


Miraculous in the Fray

by BlackOutage



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action/Adventure, Episode Related, F/M, Gen, Inspired by Miraculous Ladybug, Long, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 05:30:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15136175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackOutage/pseuds/BlackOutage
Summary: The introduction of a new miraculous along with the impatience of Hawkmoth throws Paris's heroes into discourse.





	Miraculous in the Fray

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not that good of a writer so if you guys have any criticism, HIT ME!  
> I mainly wrote this for myself, but I figured maybe there would be others who would like this as well. This is my very first work, regarding anything storywise, and I wanted to attempt at writing a Miraculous Ladybug episode/fanfiction.  
> I won't explain or elaborate any of the characters or their action, this is based on material from MLB and therefore follows the timeline and uses canon material from MLB.  
> I probably made some grammatical errors and errors with using stuff from Miraculous Ladybug (even though I proofread like 3 times), so if you guys spot anything out of the blue, let me know!  
> Thank you for reading!

Miraculous in the Fray

“Do you smell something burning?” asked one of the monks of the Guardians’ Temple.  
The leader monk disagreed,” It’s probably some incense. Try not to worry too much and focus on the meditation. We need to have this miraculous prepared.”  
The disturbed monk nodded agreeingly and went back to her usual prayer stance, with her palms together and her head arched downward. However, two monks, sitting side by side, smiled upon hearing this. Their plan was in effect.  
The room, only a small part of the temple, was directly at the center. It was soundproof to prevent any distraction from the outside. She and the leader monk were not the only ones there, the room was filled with every elite monk who wielded a miraculous, chanting in a secret language to create “The Falcon Miraculous". Slowly, as each monk chanted, white and grey torrents of energy started to circle in on the center of the room, forming the miraculous to what seemed to be a bracelet. To form this miraculous, a portion of every other miraculouses’ power was being put into this bracelet, making it one of the most powerful. It could contend with the earrings of the Ladybug and the ring of the Black Cat.  
The distressed monk was awoken from her meditation again. The master could feel the unease in her, and was furious that she was not focusing.  
He exclaimed, “Look, if you…!”.  
He stopped; he was overcome by the smell of strong smoke as well. He realized that this strong, smoky smell couldn’t have been from incense, but from a fire in the temple!  
“It’s a fire!” he exclaimed.  
He stood up and ran towards the door to leave the room, but the doors wouldn’t budge. They were locked in there, from the outside. Every monk stood up and after smelling the thick and heavy smoke, they realized how hazardous this fire could be. They all transformed into their hero form, and all but two were ready to save the temple and its people. The door was being blocked by a metal bar on the outside and the door itself being made out of an extremely hard metal rendered all but one hero useless from breaking the door: The Black Cat. The monk who became The Black Cat activated his Cataclysm and destroyed the door, dropping the metal bar. All the monks, after leaving the room, stood there, scared speechless, in awe of the disaster. The fire had already consumed almost all of the temple. They could now hear the other monks throughout the temple scream from the other rooms. It was too late for them.  
And too late for the heros.  
The fire was so vicious, blazing, and growing at an incredible rate that even if every hero had used their hero power it would still be impossible for all of them to get out. Even the Lucky Charm from Ladybug could provide no item for assistance.  
Its luck ran dry.  
The smoke grew and grew making it harder to breathe. The master, realizing that it would be impossible to save every miraculous-wielder, made one final decision: He and the other monks would help one person escape with the miraculouses, in the hopes that this practice would be learned again.  
They had turned their sights away from “The Falcon Miraculous".  
Everyone used their hero power, either to delay the fire or to protect Fu and help him escape.  
Fu was a favorite of the master at the beginning, not only because of his skill as a hero, but his trustworthiness, kindness, and his knowledge of the the miraculouses and their significances was greater than that of anyone he had known. The master watched this boy grow up and knew that choosing Fu was the right decision. At the end of the literal firefight, he was able to leave through a broken open roofing created Ladybug’s yoyo, but before he left, the master ordered everyone but Fu to place their miraculous in the hexagonal box. However, the two from earlier, wielders of the the peacock and the butterfly miraculouses, had other plans. They wanted to get the miraculouses for themselves and save themselves, knowing that if every other miraculous wielder died here, they would be the only ones able to attain the ultimate power; that is, having all the miraculouses and therefore the power to wish anything they want. They did not transform back into their human form, and instead attacked the leader monk. He was struck by a hard punch by The Butterfly and was knocked back, dropping the box on the floor. The Peacock dove for the box, but Fu was quicker. Once he grabbed the box, The Peacock retaliated and grabbed on while it was in Fu’s hand, causing a tug of war. The others run up behind Fu and held onto him, making sure that Fu would not lose this tug of war. The Butterfly was going to help his ally but then looked around him. He knew even if they won the tug of war, there would be no time to escape the fire. There was no point in fighting.  
“Fine! You fools will die in here, with those stupid miraculouses.”  
He grabbed The Peacock. “Wait! No! Let me go, I almost have it!”  
“NO! We don’t have time!”  
He valued The Peacock over ultimate power.  
He flew off with her through Fu’s escape route, never to be seen again.  
The master got up off the floor, crestfallen that two of the miraculouses are now lost, and gave to Fu the code to unlock the box, and told him, “Do not let the rest of these miraculouses get in the wrong hands… I-I trust you in your decision.”  
Fu began to cry, watching his master, friends, allies of decades just gone, but he knew the importance in his survival. The others helped Fu onto the rooftop. He looked back at the monks below him and wiped a tear off with his sleeve as he waved one last goodbye and stormed down the building, avoiding the rooftop fires, and down the snowy mountain peak of where the temple was.  
The master went back into the prayer room and told everyone, “If we are going to die here, we die trying to finish this miraculous!”  
They chanted and chanted, with each incantation getting faster and faster; finally, the fire engulfed them wiping them all. Days later, the fire had nothing to feed on and died out. With fire gone, if one looked at the temple, they would not see the building anymore. They would see the remnants of the pillars and ashes of the dead. They would also see a single bracelet on top of a hexagonal sheet. The Falcon Miraculous was miraculously finished. It laid in slumber for many years, until it felt the presence of the “one". 

Falcon

My father loved birds. Before he died, he taught me everything I needed to know about them. He took me on birdwatches when I was child and when he took my and mother on vacation, we made it our mission to try and collect one bird feather from every species of bird indigenous to that area. Our goal was basically to travel the world, in hopes of being able to see every bird. I did not have the same amount of love my dad had for birds, but I liked them. But one thing that drew to me to them was of course their ability to fly. I was alway told that the cheetah was the fastest animal on Earth, that is, until I learned about birds. The frigate bird being able to reach speeds of 95 miles per hour in the air is one of those birds, but my personal favorite was the peregrine falcon. Being able to travel at 240 miles per hour in a dive, no prey would be able to escape. The fact that every bird could watch over the world with their keen sense of sight and their power of flight, was why I wanted to be a falcon for this reason. Laugh as you may, but after loss of my father in a accident, I figured I could use this speed and its capabilities could help me defend others from being hurt. My desire for this power led me to take a falconry class. It was the closest thing to me being a falcon and after taking the class for two years, since my 7th grade, I had become an ace at falconry and made a falcon friend, Maxe. I always thought I could protect the world as “Falconman!”, making me and Maxe as a superhero and sidekick, but I gave up that idea in the 8th grade. He trusts me and me only. Maxe was designated to be the trainer bird for new falconers, but ever since the arrival of me, he attacks every new one that tries to work with him. He and I are most literally a duo and an elite one at that. We’ve have won first place multiple times at the Abu Dhabi falconry competitions and the Golden Glove Falconry Competition in Belgium, making a name for ourselves in falconry. Fate entwined us with a trust that not even closest people have with each other.  
“Ben!” my mother yelled, “Hurry and pack your bags, we are leaving for Paris tonight!”  
My mom raised me alone and in doing so, she ran two jobs in fashion. One as a makeup artist for a models and one as a model. However, as she began to model more and more, she caught the attention of multiple companies. Out of the many that wanted her to model for them, she choose the Gabriel brand in Paris, led by Gabriel Agreste, one of the best fashion designers in the world.  
Most of time, I hear that moving away from a country you lived in for so long is sad and painful, but I couldn’t relate to that. I didn’t have that many friends because I usually kept to my books and falconry, and the friends I did have were just acquaintances from falconry class. The only thing I would really be missing would be Maxe, but even then my falconry teacher would ship him over to the nearest falconry school by my house in Paris. I wasn’t worried by the language barrier either. My father was fluent in French and taught me everything when I was a child, my mom was able to pick up some words too. So, I really wasn’t going to miss much in the States.  
I began packing up my clothes and my books. I packed every feather I collected in their own respective case, and even had a box just for them. The other stuff like my bed and computer were too big or fragile to pack, so they were handled by a shipping company. I knew when I arrived in Paris, I would have to be at school the next day, so I prepared a backpack for school ahead of time. I finished packing at 5 PM and our flight to Paris wasn’t until 12:00 AM, so I decided to head to my falconry school and give Maxe one “last” flight before we head off to France. My mom drove me there and this time, since it was the last time I would be with him in California, she let me stay out with Maxe until 10 PM.  
When I arrived, Maxe let out a loud “caw" to show his happy reaction to me. I put on my aged, talon-scratched glove, grabbed the pail of meat and immediately he flew on, putting on one more scratch. I threw pieces of meat, made my callouts one by one, in quick succession, and each time Maxe executed his moves and tricks perfectly.  
Now I wanted to see the famous falcon dive.  
I signaled to him to fly as high as possible and immediately he knew what he had to do. He flew up and waited. I threw the meat, beginning his rapid descent. Maxe took the appearance of a feathery bullet in the sky, with his wings tucked in and his sharp beak pointing out. He was halfway to the piece of meat until something odd happened.  
He stopped.  
He then flew away from me, as if something had called to him.  
“Maxe! What are you doing!?” I called to him. This was the first time in years in which he disobeyed my orders. Clearly something had caught his attention. I ran after him, but I ran into a fence that denoted the boundaries of where the bird should fly within. Maxe did not abide to them. He kept on flying and flying. I couldn’t climb a fence and if I turned around to exit and look for him, I would’ve already lost him. I sat down and realized the only solution to the situation: Wait and hope for him to come back. It was 8PM, and the sun was down. By the time it was 9PM, the stress got to me and I started to cry.  
“I don’t want to go to Paris without him! How am I going to explain to my teacher!?” I thought.  
The time had reached 9:30, and my mom texted me to remind me that she was coming in half an hour. Maxe had tested my patience and I was done waiting and crying, I was going to text her to come now and explain the situation. But just as I was about to do that, I heard a loud “KAW!”.  
It was Maxe! He saw me and did the dive I wanted him to do earlier. This dark, feathery bullet finally came down to me. I ran up and hugged him, gently. I wanted to hug harder but I couldn’t without hurting him. As I hugged him, I felt something cold around his neck, and I heard the sound of crinkling paper on under his talons. I stopped hugging him and examined him. There was a bracelet and a strange hexagonal sheet of paper under him. Surprisingly, the sheet of paper wasn’t torn or crinkled by his talons; it was in perfect condition. I removed the bracelet from his neck. “ What a strange bracelet…” I thought. It was a cylindrical wrist bracelet that was just blank, silver, with absolutely no design on it. “... why would someone make a bracelet that’s so plain? More importantly, why does Maxe have it?” I wondered.  
I looked at Maxe and he looked back at me as if he wanted to say “I don’t know.You know this better than I do.”  
I folded the paper and put it in my pocket. I decided to put on the bracelet. All the sudden a bright orb of light shined in front of me. A tiny falcon-like mouse creature with wings appeared.  
“AHHHHH!” I screamed, “What the heck are you!?”  
It scared me to the point where I fell onto the ground. In a calm and serene tone, it said to me, “Hi Ben…” 

“It knows my name.”  
“... I am your kwami, Floe.”  
I started to crawl away from it. “A kwami?” I asked, “ Wait, hold up, what is going in? What’s your purpose? How do you know my name!? What the heck is this!?”  
“Relax Ben! I’m not going to hurt you! Let me explain. As a kwami, I can grant you powers through your miraculous, which is that bracelet. Most importantly, the power I grant you is the power of speed. And your falcon told me your name.” Floe said, getting closer to me.  
I got up from the ground and wiped the dirt off myself.  
“Why me?” I asked.  
“To protect anyone from harm from anything, it is your control over this power to be used for the good for humanity. I chose you as my owner, you have a strong desire to protect those around you. Even though you do have some bad intentions and aren’t the best of heart, I know you will keep at nothing to defend those who need it. It also helps that you like birds too.” said Floe.  
“So like a… superhero?”  
“Yes, exactly like a superhero.”  
It was as if he were around me my entire life.  
“Then tell me what I need to know.” I said.  
“All you need to do is say ‘Floe, Take Flight!’ ”  
And I complied.

“FLOE, TAKE FLIGHT!” 

Floe “flowed” into my bracelet. The plain silver bracelet I had on was no longer dull. It was brilliant golden and now covered with tiny golden feathers, with the feathers overlapping each other. It had a small crest with an outline of falcon wings spread out.  
First, was the mask. It was in the form of Robin’s Mask from Batman and Robin. My hands were covered with gloves. My body was then wrapped with bodysuit armor. The parts covering my feet to my chest in the front were white with linear specks of grey, with everything else being a grey-black mix. On my feet were white boots. There was also a single black talon, curved downward, behind each boot as well. Running down the middle of the top of my forearms and my boots was a small, thin gold blade that split into three at my wrist and at my ankles, with them ending at the tip of my pinky and middle finger, and thumb and the others ending at the sole of my boots. At the end, these split blades took the form of black talons.  
“Just like a peregrine falcon.”  
A hood came over, with the hem converging together to make a sharp point at the top of the hood, like the beak of a falcon. The hood’s color was the same as the grey-black portion of the suit. My favorite part came up: the wings. They came out from my back and were white on the inside, grey on the outside. Its span was to my arms plus half an arm length and were as large as my torso. My transformation was complete. Maxe flew back, wondering what happened with me.  
I was amazed. I felt surprisingly comfortable, but more importantly, I felt my senses and abilities heighten. I could see much further, more than quadruple the length of 20/20 vision, and my hearing immensely improved. Maxe, with a rock in his mouth, had prepared for a dive, wanting to attack this new person. This was a trick I taught him to do, back in my hero fantasy days. When he was nearly finished with his dive, he propelled the rock at near the speed of a bullet. I heard it, almost too late, the rock had nearly pierced my face! I was able to grab it just before it could collide with me. My reaction time and speed had been increased drastically, but also my tolerance to pain. Grabbing an object moving at near the speed of a bullet is not an easy, much less painless, feat. Now, I wanted to perform the peregrine falcon dive. I flew up nearly thirty miles high and prepared for the dive. I hovered there, just to look over my slice of the world.  
“The view up here is awesome.”  
I stooped down and let gravity be my friend. As I free-fell, I felt extremely quick, I could feel like air molecules collide against my suit, I could feel the pressure.  
“So this is what it feels to be a meteor.”  
When I landed on the ground, I transformed back to myself.  
“Wings In!”  
My kwami came back out in front of me. “So, I guess you got the gist of the powers down?” he asked.  
“Yeah, but I could do some slight work.” I said, smiling.  
“Well.... you need to know one more thing. As a hero, you have a hero power called Piercing Descent. You have to be in the air to use this power, preferably really high. You perform your dive, becoming an unstoppable force. Once you reach the ground again you maintain the final speed in all actions.”  
“What’s the catch?” Ben asked. He knew a power that good would have a drawback.  
“The speed you maintain won’t last forever. In fact, it is quite brief. Once you finish your dive, it lasts for thirty seconds. After you use your power, you will transform back to yourself in five minutes. You won’t be able to call on me to transform you back immediately, I need rest and energy. Those feathers on your bracelet represent the five minutes. After all the feathers fall off, times up. Got it?”  
I nodded.  
“Phew, this isn’t going to be easy.”  
“It won’t be, but I trust you.”  
“Thanks, Floe, I won’t let you down.” I said afterwards. I heard a car roll up. “Quick, hide Floe!”. He ran into in my jacket.  
It was my mom’s car, but when the driver’s window rolled down, I saw my falconry teacher!  
“Hey Ben! I’m here to you and your mom to the airport and then take your car back. You can bring Maxe along for the ride, I’ll make sure he gets to Paris safe and sound,” she said.  
I smiled brightly. I ran to the car and sat on the right rear passenger seat and placed my glove right next to me. I ordered Maxe to lay on the glove, but once again he disobeyed me. Instead, he laid on my lap and fell asleep. I petted him softly. The bracelet was in my view and made me wonder about what Floe said. “Floe also said that there were other heroes like me when he explained my hero power. Who are they?”  
I pulled out the sheet of paper that Maxe had under his talons.  
“He never explained what this was or much about him, except for the fact that he’s a kwami, or his past. I’ll ask him more questions when we reach Paris, right now I need a nap.” I was about to fall asleep. But before I could, my mom asked me, “ Are you ready for Paris?” .  
I looked at my bracelet once more and said, “Oh, I think I’ll be more than ready.”

Meanwhile in Paris…  
“Ah, yes Mr. Damocles, yes right away. I’ll have another IPad ready for the new student and yes, I’ll make sure he gets a tour of the school.”  
Mrs. Bustier was preparing equipment and the class for a new student, Ben. But as she was talking with the principal, Mr. Damocles, one of her students, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, was out at lunch and overheard the conversation between them.  
“A new student?” she said “Alya has to know about this!” .  
She about to leave, but the continuation of the conversation caught her attention. She hid herself from sight.  
“Ms. Bustier, one thing you should note is that this student is from the Americas, so he might be unable to speak French. I will make sure that he gets a French-English language tutor, but keep him in class while you are teaching French grammar and language, so he can “soak up” the knowledge.” said Mr. Damocles.  
“Yes, Mr. Damocles.” acknowledged Ms. Bustier. “This kid is going to be a real doozy.” said Ms. Bustier after Mr. Damocles left.  
Mr. Damocles walked out and saw Marinette hiding.  
“Marinette, what are doing kneeling by the door?”  
“Oops, sorry Mr. Damocles.” Marinette apologized while nervously laughing. She ran off her to Alya. He shook his head at her.  
“Alya, Alya! We’re going to have a new student here! He’s gonna be in the same class as us!” exclaimed Marinette as she was running down the stairs, not realizing how loud she was. Her clumsiness caused her to trip and fall down on the stairs.  
“Whoa! WHOA!”  
But Alya caught her before she could hit the floor.  
“Ooh, thanks, that was close.”  
The crowd at lunch had heard her and became extremely excited, except for Chloe. Everyone started to ask questions:  
“Do you know who is he?”  
“Do you know where he’s from?”  
“Is he cute!?” a girl shouted from the back.  
Marinette answered shyly, “Well… He’s student from the Americas, other than that I don’t really know who he is.”  
After Chloe heard this, she jumped in.  
“Well if he’s from the Americas there’s no way he’s going to be ‘cute’, aren’t all Americans fat and obese?”  
Everyone but a few in the crowd nodded in agreement.  
She began to assume and mock his size, “HI GUYS I’M THE NEW STUDENT FROM AMERICA, LOOK HOW LARGE MY STOMACH IS AND LOOK AT THE FAT ON MY FACE.”  
She proceeded to drugenly walk around, holding her arms out near her stomach as if she were holding a wildly obese-sized stomach and puffed out her cheeks, using some english words as the sprinkles on top of this rude act. The crowd around her began to laugh. But there were also those who didn’t enjoy her antics. Marinette, Alya, Adrien, and Nino were especially not amused. They were about to speak up and defend Ben until they saw Ms. Bustier come down and said, “Well, Chloe if you must know, our new student is the son of Qún So, a famous model in the US and now a supermodel for Paris.” Ms. Bustier had heard and saw everything Chloe did.  
“Oh, Ms. Bustier, I’m sorry for making fun of this poor boy’s health. But being the son of a second-rate….”  
Ms. Bustier had pulled up a photo of the model, Qùn So, on her phone and put Chloe and her words to shame. It was a photo of So posing for clothes from Gucci, a brand Chloe worshipped. The photos of Qùn were beautiful, extravagant, so much so that Mr. Agreste had reviewed the photo and said in an interview, “A masterpiece, both the clothes and the model.”  
Chloe clearly agreed since she had her mouth wide open and had the eyes of a starstruck person. However, Chloe wasn’t the only one starstruck, everyone who saw the photo stared at it with an awe with some even say “oohs” and “wows”. Chloe realized what she was doing and walked away in embarrassment, dragging along her “best friend”, Sabrina. The four who were displeased with Chloe’s act from earlier were now smiling as if justice had been done.  
“Ben is arriving tomorrow, so you will have a chance to meet him.” said Ms. Bustier. The bell rang, it was time for them to head back to class. They all remembered that name, Ben. At the end of school, they all marched together to the exit. While walking, Alya proposed, “Hey, why don’t we try and do more research on this guy? We have his name and we know his mom is super famous.”  
Nino replied jokingly, “Uhh, isn’t that a bit creepy, dude? We will have known everything about him before he even comes here.” Adrien, Marinette, and Nino began laughing.  
“Well, you know what, I’m gonna go prepare myself for this guy ahead of time. Call it what you want.” said Alya, letting out a chuckle.  
“I’m gonna get him some pastries from my parent’s bakery.” said Marinette.  
“That sounds like a great idea!” complimented Adrien. Marinette began to blush, receiving a compliment from her crush.  
“You thank..- Thank you! Thank you… .” said Marinette, hiding her embarrassed laughter.  
“I should get him something for a greeting as well,” said Adrien, “but I don’t know what.”  
Alya had a great idea. She knew that Marinette had a massive crush on Adrien and after hearing what Adrien said, she dragged Marinette away from Nino and Adrien and whispered her, “Hey, you know, this would be a great time to ask Adrien to go shopping with you to help find a present.”  
Marinette, trying to recover from the happy shock of Adrien touching and complimenting her, was again sent into another state of blushing and shock.  
“Ahhh, going shopping with Adrien…” She began her rant, “Oooh, we can go out! and get cake! and more food! And feed each other like in the romantic movies! and we can try on new clothing! and he buy me a ring! And.. and… then we can get married! And… and…!”  
Alya stopped her. “Girl, get a hold of yourself! This is just a simple shopping date. You need to help him find a gift for Ben too, you know.”  
Marinette let out light laughter to cover her embarrassment and replied meekly, “Yea… you’re right.”  
“And you need to actually need to ask him to go shopping.”  
Marinette tensed up. Alya knew that there was no way that Marinette was going to talk to Adrien by her own will, so she did the only reasonable thing and pushed her into Adrien. Marinette’s body collided with Adrien’s with her face hitting his chest. Her level of blushing and flusteredness were skyhigh at this point. She moved off of him and looked at him with wide eyes and said nervously, “Hehe, sorry…”  
Alya then came up behind her and said, “Well Marinette, don’t you have something to say to Adrien here?”  
Marinette began her sentence nervously,” Wo-Wou-Would you like t-to shop going, I mean! I mean, going shop- go shopping with m-me to find a welcome gift for me- I mean! Ben?”  
“Sure, that sounds like a great idea! It’ll be a shopping date!” Adrien replied.  
Marinette was ecstatic that Adrien had called it a date even though she hadn’t meant it to be, but she didn’t let her body or face show it. Instead, she was still wildly nervous. Nino was right behind Adrien, smiling at Marinette with both his thumbs high up.  
“Where do you suggest we go?”  
“What about the ball--mall!?”  
“Well, it’s 4:35 now, how about we meet up at 5:30?”  
“Great!” replied Marinette excitedly.  
She had finally, successfully asked Adrien out on a “date”.  
“I guess I’ll hang out with Alya and find out more about this dude.” said Nino.  
“It’s ok Nino, we’ll have more fun than these two on their date.” said Alya.  
She stuck her tongue out at Marinette to assert that Nino and her were the superior couple, jokingly. A few moments later, Adrien’s gorilla-like chauffeur and bodyguard had arrived.  
“Alright, bye guys! I’ll see you later, Marinette.” farewelled Adrien.  
Marinette was too enamored to wave bye and then said lovingly, “Ahhh, Adrien.”  
Alya shook Marinette, and said, “Girl, get it together! You should get home and change to prepare for the ‘date’.’’  
“You’re right, Alya, thanks for your help today. I hope the gift you get for him is something he’ll love.”  
“Anytime, you got this girl!”  
Marinette went home, while the other two went to Alya’s house. Once Marinette arrived, she rushed to her room but not before greeting her parents with a quick kiss and devouring a freshly baked pastry that her father made for her.  
“Whoa, what’s the rush pumpkin?” asked her father.  
“I have to finish up all my homework quickly, I have somewhere to be!” she exclaimed from her room.  
“Where?” asked her father, again.  
Knowing the barrage of questions would not stop unless she gave them a plentiful description she replied in a rushed voice, “I’m headed to the mall to buy help my friend Adrien buy a new student that is arriving in our class tomorrow, a welcoming gift.” Her parents heard “finish” and “homework”, so they stopped asking questions.  
“Ok, sweetie.” said her father. He looked to wife, wondering if she had answer for this sudden behavior in their daughter, then they both shrugged at each other.

Luckily, for all four students, the workload wasn’t as much today as luck would have it, and they finished at 5. Now, Adrien and Marinette were faced with another predicament: What are they going to wear to the mall?  
“Oh, Tikki, I don’t know what to wear!” Marinette said, groaning as she was rummaging through her closet.  
“Why don’t you wear what you are wearing right now?” replied Tikki.  
“No, I want to impress him. This ‘drabby’ clothing I have on right now, isn’t going to cut it for a date.”  
“Well, Marinette, the clothes you have on right now look perfect! There’s no point in going full on fancy!”  
“I’m not trying to be extremely fancy or anything, I just want to put a teensy bit more effort into my looks than usual.”  
Finally, she found what she was looking for: a white lace blouse with bell sleeves with a design of falling cherry blossoms flying on it, with a dark blue skirt that matched her hair color and her “lucky” black thigh-high socks. The great thing was, she designed all of it.  
“I wouldn’t exactly call that a teensy bit more effort.”  
“Well, it's more effort than I normally put into it.”  
She put on the clothes along with a pair of violet ballet flats that she designed. They had a single red rose on them. She looked at herself in the mirror, twirling and examining every bit of herself, making sure she was clean and looked “wow-like". “Wow” was an understatement, she was stunning. This “teensy" bit more effort she had put it made her look much more bold and beautiful. She was pleased with her look and so was Tikki. It was 5:15, she walked down to leave and once her parents saw her, they had wide eyes as if they saw their daughter going prom.  
“I’m guessing Adrien isn’t exactly a “friend” now, is he?” asked her mother.  
“No,” Marinette giggled, “not exactly.”  
Her father offered to give her a ride and Marinette accepted. Her dad opened the passenger door for her and then looked back at his wife, sharing a happy glance. He entered the driver’s seat and off they were, to the mall.

Five o’clock at the Agreste Residence

“Plagg, help me find some clothes!” exclaimed Adrien, as he too was rummaging through his closet.  
“Well, if you’re asking me, you should dress up as a giant piece of camembert cheese, that’ll attract all the ladies!”  
He scoffed off the joke. Normally for any occasion with friends, whether it’d be one or many, he would wear his normal school clothes. But this time, his clothes stunk more than usual of camembert, so he thought it would be best to switch to clothes that smelled nicer and were more appropriate for a date.  
“I don’t know why you’re putting so much effort into this. Just get him a piece of camembert,” he said as he ate another piece of camembert.  
“Well, not everyone likes your favorite smelly cheese, Plagg.”  
He kept on rummaging through his closet. “How is it that a model like me has no clothes!?”. He was becoming more and more stressed until, finally, he saw what he was looking for. He decided to wear a black jacket, that had patterns of lines and curves of gold weave all around it, but he decided to keep the same white rainbow lined shirt underneath. He choose a fresh pair of jeans and a pair of newly designed vans. The last article of clothing he decided to wear was the scarf given to him by Marinette for his birthday, but was tricked into thinking it was from his dad, by his “assistant" , Natalie. He looked at himself in the mirror and was satisfied. He looked chill, but this made him look much more attractive than he normally looked.  
“This should do it for a date, right Plagg?”  
“Yeah, sure whatever. The cheese look would’ve been better.”  
Adrien realized that he had a new problem, “How am I going to get out?”. His bodyguard followed him everywhere, in fact his bodyguard was behind of the door, and this date was one place where he did not want his bodyguard. He also realized that the time was 5:25, he spent all that time looking for clothes, without realizing how much time he blew. With the extremely short time constraint and the need to avoid his bodyguard, the only option was to turn into Cat Noir and parkour his way there.  
“Come on, Plagg, I need to transform!”  
“Wait, can I at least finish this piece-"  
“Claws out!” Adrien exclaimed, cutting off Pladd. His transformation was complete. He opened the window in his room, leaped out and was off to the mall, without a trace.

The Disastrous Date  
Her dad and her waved goodbye. Marinette had arrived first at the mall at exactly 5:30 on the dot. When she was walking towards the entrance, she managed to capture the attention of every boy outside and left every girl jealous or amazed by her looks. But Marinette paid no attention to them, for only she wanted attention from one person tonight: Adrien. Speaking of which, he had just arrived, but instead of showing up at the entrance, he decided to show up behind a large tree to hide from the public. He transformed out of Cat Noir and started walking towards to the mall to join Marinette. She waited by the fountain inside the mall behind the entrance and expected to wait for about five minutes for Adrien to arrive. The wait was now 10 minutes long. Marinette began making up any excuses for why Adrien wasn’t showing up. “Maybe, he got into an argument with his dad.” , “Maybe, he broke his arm!” , “Maybe, he’s taking his time making himself look good for me!” , “Maybe, he stood me…” . Before she could finish her last thought, the people ran to and crowded by the entrance to mall. “OHMYGOD IT’S ADRIEN AHHHHHHH”, “ADRIEN!” , and “I WANNA TAKE A PHOTO WITH HIM.” were only a few exclamations that the crowd screamed when they saw him. This caught her attention and she stood up to see Adrien, pushing through the crowd to get through the entrance of the mall. She was elated and happy to him. As was Adrien to see her. He kept on pushing through the crowd with success until he tripped on a fan’s foot and face planted himself on the floor. Marinette laughed with her hand over her mouth and then ran over to help him up. The crowd looked at them, as Marinette was helping Adrien up. All of them curious about who this mystery girl was, some of them recognized her as the girl that hid with Adrien in the fountain, i.e. Adrien’s “girlfriend”. Immediately they brought out their phones and started taking photos. Adrien and Marinette reacted quickly blocking their faces, turning away from the crowd and walking away.  
“Sorry guys, no photos today!” exclaimed Adrien, turning his face only to tell that to them.  
The crowd groaned, even more so after finding out that no one had gotten a good photo of the two and soon dispersed back to their usual duties, not wanting to harass the two of them this evening. He was thinking of what people do on a date, since he had never been on one before and then linked arms with Marinette as they were walking. She looked at it questioningly at first but then… .  
“Oh my god! Me and Adrien are linking arms! YES!”. She was madly happy, to her it was one step closer to successful relationship, albeit a tiny step.  
The ladies that were jealous of her looks before were even more jealous and those who were amazed, were awestruck. The crowd brought out their phones again. The two ignored whatever photo-taking was go on about them, knowing it was near impossible to stop the public.  
“I’m sorry I was late earlier, I was... in an argument with my dad,” said Adrien coming up with a lie. He thought it would be too embarrassing to tell her that he spent his entire time looking for clothes.  
“I knew it!”  
“Is everything alright? I hope you aren’t in trouble coming here.” she asked, worriedly.  
“Let’s just say I’m gonna have more photoshoots, tutoring, and piano time.”  
She released her arm from his when she heard this.  
“Oh no! I’m sorry for putting you through this! Maybe you should go home and not…”  
“Don’t worry! I can handle all of that. What I can’t, is standing someone up.”  
Marinette hugged his arm again for a few seconds, making Adrien smile. “What a gentleman…”  
She then realized something was up, as if another person were missing.  
“Where’s your bodyguard? Isn’t he always by your side?”  
“I, uhhh, told him to wait in the car…”  
She didn’t even get a hint that Adrien was lying, she was too captivated by the fact that Adrien was here, right beside her.  
“Well, I’m glad you’re here now!  
“And without your bodyguard…”  
“We should get going to find a present for Ben.” finished Marinette.  
They headed out, checking multiple stores wondering Ben’s possible reactions to the gift they thought would be the one. They wanted to make sure his first day in Paris and in a french high school was the best. They checked shirts and pants.  
“Nah, his mom’s a model, he’s got plenty of good clothes.”  
They tried souvenirs.  
“Nah, he’s not a tourist.”  
They went into a toy store and Adrien picked up a Ladybug and Cat Noir doll, like the ones he had at home.  
“These?”  
“Does he even know who they are?” questioned Marinette.  
“Yea, you’re probably right.”  
Marinette looked around, ignoring Adrien for a short time, and tried to look for toys that a teenager like them might like, but the store catered to the primary school students.  
Adrien put the Cat Noir doll back, but looked at the Ladybug one just a bit longer. He sighed out of hopeless love and shook his head, smiling.  
Adrien then recommended foods. Inside his jacket, Plagg held in his desire to say camembert.  
“I’m already giving him pastries, though.” said Marinette.  
“Oh right! What kind?”  
“I don’t know.... OH NO, I FORGOT TO TELL MY DAD!”  
Adrien grabbed her on her shoulders, calming her down. “It’s alright, we can get him food now. We can get ourselves some food while we’re at it!”  
With that sentence, Marinette’s stress became happiness.  
“W-Where do you suggest we go eat?” Marinette asked, nervously.  
“Hmm, I know a place that opened nearby here. Let’s leave the mall.”  
The name of the place was called “Les Clés du Bonheur” (The Keys to Happiness). It was a restaurant where patrons could buy multiple types of desserts and treats but it was also a place where one could have an exquisite dinner.  
While walking, Adrien had finally noticed her attire. Like the crowd from the mall, he was stunned.  
“Wow…” he said. But he wanted to keep that to himself.  
“Hmm, what did you say?” ask Marinette, picking up on what Adrien said.  
He had been caught.  
“You look really nice.”  
Marinette blushed proudly, she had got the reaction she wanted from Adrien. Wanting to return the compliment, she said stuttering, “Oh I-I-I look nice? Thank me-you! Well, me-you looks-look... perfect...” She caught herself and covered her mouth, but it was too late. Adrien had heard her. She wanted to use the word “nice”, but she let her true emotions out when complimenting him.  
“Huh?” He began laughing lightly, scratching his head, thinking of what he should say. “Thanks,” he said with a smile.  
They looked away from each other for a moment out of embarrassment, but then looked at each other again, grinning and giggling happily. Before, they knew it, the place was right in front of them. The restaurant had an outside dining area, where Marinette and Adrien decided to eat. Once they were seated, a waiter came up to them.  
“Hi, my name’s Anton and I’ll be taking your orders today.”  
“I think I’ll have the ratatouille, along with a camembert sandwich.” said Adrien  
“I’ll have spaghetti.” said Marinette  
“Alright, your food will be ready shortly!” Anton left to tend to another table.  
“A camembert sandwich?” asked Marinette.  
“What can I say, I like camembert and… sandwiches!”  
Marinette looked at him weirdly, but didn’t want to bring it up again. “How could he like such a disgusting smelling cheese?”  
This was the third lie that he told on this date. The real reason he wanted camembert sandwich was just for the camembert just in case Plagg needed a refuel. He was going to save the rest of sandwich for later. They waited in silence. Marinette started to get anxious, she didn’t like this absolute silence that was between them, but she was too nervous to start a conversation until she remembered what Alya had told her: “You got this girl!”. Marinette did not have this. She got the courage to initiate the conversation but failed to execute it.  
“So you like any animals at the zoo?”  
She facepalmed, she wanted to ask, “You like anyone at school?”  
Adrien followed along anyways.  
“Well, there’s is one animal in particular. The ladybug has interested me a lot.” joked Adrien.  
Marinette laughed. “Yeah, I guess I have the same interest in black cats.”  
But before they could continue, they saw their food coming towards them.  
Their food had been finished in the making, and Adrien and Marinette could see it being delivered to them in the distance. Anton walked closer and closer, with Adrien and Marinette’s eyes glowing and mouths watering by how delicious the food was looking. But as Anton approached them, a nearby customer accidentally spilled water over the table and onto Anton. He panicked and fell over, dropping Marinette and Adrien’s food everywhere. The manager came out, alarmed by the people gasping and the shattering of porcelain bowls and plates. He was outraged.  
“Are you serious!? This is the third time you’ve done this, this week!” exclaimed the manager, humiliating Anton.  
“I’m sorry! I promise it won’t happen again!”  
“That’s what you said the last time! And the time before that!” said Anton, as he scrambled to the floor to pick up the pieces.  
Marinette trying to defuse the situation said, “It’s okay! I’m fine with waiting for our food again.”  
Adrien backed her up. “Yea, I’m cool with waiting for the food again too.”  
The manager heard them but was still furious.  
“No, you kids don’t understand! This fool has only been working for a week and already dropped three orders! One of his excuses was ‘The candlelight was too bright!’.”  
The patrons laughed.  
“This is one place I’m not working at.” thought Marinette.  
He turned his attention away from Marinette and Adrien and back to Anton. “YOU’RE FIRED!”  
Anton ran from the crowd that he had just been humiliated in front of, crying, and exited through the kitchen exit to an alleyway. He lied beside a wall crying, extremely crestfallen.  
Everyone went back to their food, but Adrien and Marinette felt sorry for Anton and ran off to find him. But he was gone.  
_____________________________  
“I think it’s time Adrien knew what happened with his mother.” Gabriel Agreste, with the hiring of Qún So, a mother herself, thought about Adrien’s mother, Emilie. He went to Adrien’s room, ordering his bodyguard to move out the way. But when he entered in, Adrien was nowhere to be found. He saw the window had been opened, and put two and two together. He stormed out of his room, furious, and went to his underground lair. The bodyguard grabbed his arm to stop him and make sure he was okay, but Gabriel pulled off his arm pushed him aside. Natalie saw him storm out.  
“Mr. Agreste, are you oka-…?”  
But before she could finish her sentence he slammed the door shut to the main room behind him. This is not the first time Adrien had escaped and he knew that ordering his bodyguard and Natalie to find him would be useless. But the bodyguard knew, without having Mr. Agreste tell him, that he had to find Adrien.  
Nuru, his kwami came out.  
“Master...?”  
“Nooroo, DARK WINGS RISE!”  
He didn’t have the withweral to listen to anyone today. He was ready to begin akumatizing.

Akumatized!

“Anton! Anton!”  
Adrien and Marinette called out his name but to to no avail.  
He had hidden himself well behind a dumpster which was in the alleyway of which the kitchen exit led to. They still looked for him, wanting to comfort him and rid of his bad emotions. But Hawkmoth had other plans for those emotions.  
“Ahhh, the pain of humiliation and the failure of a job. This makes a perfect host for my akuma!” exclaimed Hawkmoth from his lair. The lair’s window opened, letting the dark butterfly out and towards its victim.  
Eventually, Marinette and Adrien gave up and went back to the restaurant. They sat down, disappointed.  
“I feel sorry for him.” said Marinette.  
The manager came up to them and apologized for the predicament earlier. The meals would be on the house for them, making them smile brightly. Again, shortly after, the meals came out and they began eating. Talking about schools, friends, laughing, and their past memories together, they forgot about Anton and Marinette had completely forgotten about the conversation they had earlier. And Marinette forgot her speech impediment with Adrien.  
“How’s modeling been?” asked Marinette.  
“It’s been pretty good so far. I just finished modelling a new jacket for my father.” He pulled out his phone and put up a photo of him modelling the jacket. “Here, take a look.”  
“Wow…” but she wasn’t amazed by the jacket. She was, of course, amazed by Adrien. “... you look great in this!”  
She handed his phone back to him.  
“Thanks. And what about you? How are your designs going?”  
“You can be the judge of them.” She pulled up the sketches that she drew on her phone and handed her phone to Adrien.  
He swiped right on her multiple times, seeing all the different designs. He was impressed as Marinette was with him.  
“These designs are impressive, Marinette!”  
“Thank you.”  
He handed her phone back to her. “You have to send those designs back to me. I can show them to my father and maybe, I’ll be modelling your designs.”  
“Oh no, it’s ok. I don’t want to bother him with my subpar designs.”  
“What are you talking about!? You won the hat making competition remember? My dad will love your designs.”  
“Alright… I’ll send them to you later today.”  
“Perfect!”  
“You know, you could be modelling with me one day.”  
“Whutt?” Marinette responded surprised, with her mouth full of spaghetti.  
“I’m serious! I think you could really model with me. You already attended one of my photoshoots, I’m sure you picked up some pointers on how to perform in one.”  
Marinette swallowed down the spaghetti. “I only design clothes, not model them.”  
“I’ll prove it to you. I’m having a photoshoot next week and I want you to come and model with me.”  
She rubbed her head and turned away from him. As much she really wanted to, with her responsibilities as a student, class representative, helping her parents in the bakery, designer, and most importantly Ladybug, she was afraid that she would have no time for a photoshoot.  
“I don’t know Adrien… I’ve got a lot of responsibilities…”  
“It’s fine. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I’m not going to force it on you.”  
“Thank you, Adrien. But I will try and be there.”  
“I’ll have my fingers crossed.”  
And try she would.  
A few minutes later, Anton stopped crying and got up, but felt no better. He held up a shard of a broken plate that he had picked up from the floor, reminiscing about the event. But the akuma flew in and used it to evilize him.  
“Clumzor, my name is Hawkmoth, I grant you the powers to cause havoc by exploiting others clumsiness. In return, you must bring me back Ladybug and Cat Noir’s miraculouses.”  
“Yes, Hawkmoth, I understand.”  
The akuma had transformed him. His black vest and white shirt underneath became red and black respectively with designs of stick figures tripping, dropping items, spilling liquids, and other clumsy acts. His slacks became a mixture of black and red as well, along with the same designs. His face was covered with a black ski mask with a giant “C” on it. The apron that wrapped around his waist and legs became a cape. His ability allowed him to summon plates from people’s homes, department stores, anywhere.  
He held his hand in the air summoning plates. The people became scared and wondered why their plates were flying out of their homes.  
“So… did you finish all the homework?” asked Marinette.  
“Of course, it was pretty short today.”  
But before they could continue their conversation, they heard people screaming and running outside, along with the sound of shattering plates. This attracted the attention of everyone around; they could see a mysterious man in the sky with plates under his feet, throwing plates at the people below him and blinding them with lights that somehow came out of the plates. The plates that hit people, caused them to be unable get up and when they tried, they tripped and fell back to the floor. Running was hopeless to them, the most they could do was crawl. They felt heavy. As they kept crawling, they felt heavier and heavier and soon collapsed and stayed on the floor. The ones that missed became anything such as puddles of water or rocks to deter those from running, or to make them trip over putting them under the same effect as those hit by the plates. The sight of people struggling to get up and tripping constantly was unsettling.  
“Anton!?” said Marinette and Adrien simultaneously.  
Once he heard them, he started throwing the plates at them and the patrons in the outdoor dining area. Everyone ran indoors.  
“I am not Anton! I am Clumzor! The gracefulness of Paris will fall today!”  
In the midst of the chaos, they started heading in opposite directions with Marinette running to the ladies’ bathroom and Adrien heading to the alley where Anton was.  
“SPOTS ON!”  
“CLAWS OUT!”  
They both ran and saw each other.  
“Perfect timing, Cat Noir!”  
Before they could say more Clumzor started throwing plates at them.  
“There they are! Get their miraculouses!” exclaimed Hawkmoth communicating with Clumzor.  
Ladybug and Cat Noir split up, spinning their weapons to prevent the plates from hitting them, running on the walls and trying to converge on him to knock him out. But he accelerated the rate at which he was throwing out plates. It was too much for both of them, so they retreated and hid behind a nearby building.  
“So, a direct attack won’t work against him.” said Cat Noir.  
“They usually never work against any villain.”  
“So, any plans...?”  
Ladybug peeked out and saw that Clumzor was still looking for them. She also saw where the akuma was hiding. The black plate shard was held in his left hand.  
“Alright, I’ve got a plan. But I need you to distract him. The akuma is in a plate shard in his left hand.”  
Cat Noir jumped out and got Clumzor’s attention.  
“Hey! You know no matter what way cats fall, they land on their feet!”  
“Let's see about that!”  
Clumzor flew up and started throwing plates at Cat Noir, all the while Ladybug went around the building.  
“Ladybug, where are you!?” Cat Noir thought while dodging a cascade of plates.  
She finally appeared behind Clumzor and threw her magic yoyo, tying it to his leg. He was caught by surprised and Ladybug broke his balance in the air by tugging on his leg and bringing him down.  
“Cat Noir, the akuma!”  
He ran up and leaped into the air using his staff, and lunged towards him to get the fragment. But Clumzor had summoned multiple plates to form a wall surrounding him, preventing Cat Noir from even getting close to him.  
Cat Noir retreated midair and fell back down. When Ladybug and Cat Noir looked back up, Clumzor turned his defense into his offense. He turned his wall of plates into drones of plates that chased Cat Noir and Ladybug. Ladybug let go of Clumzor, and both Cat Noir and Ladybug dodged out of the way of the plates, causing the plates to collide with walls and objects and shattering. Clumzor threw multiple plates at them and tried blinding them but missed due to their agility. He gave up and formed a hoverboard with his plates, for he had other plans for the rest of Paris.  
“Quick, we gotta follow him!"  
As he flew, he threw plates to the civilians below him causing destruction. He laughed as his saw hundreds of people falling and struggling, cars crashing and items being destroyed. He then realized that Cat Noir and Ladybug were following him closeby. He made numerous walls of plates blocking their pathing, but they easily maneuvered around them. He gave up on trying to block them off and instead sped up to reach his destination, the Mayor Bourgeois’ office. Once he arrived he went through a window and grabbed Mr. Bourgeois by the arm, dragging him.  
“Where are you taking me!? I demand an answer!” exclaimed the mayor.  
“Oh, don’t worry Mr. Bourgeois. Tonight, you will Paris’s clumsiest person!” Clumzor said, cackling evilly. He saw his daughter Chloe come running down the stairway to try and save her father, and blinded her with light. “AHHH, I can’t see! Don’t do any to my hair please!” He threw a plate on floor, making it turning into a puddle of water, knowing fully that Chloe would eventually slip on it.  
He knew that cameras and helicopters had been following him and broadcasting everything he did as well. He would make the mayor of Paris a bumbling spectacle for all of Paris to see. He kicked the front doors of the building open and could see all that news helicopters, the spotlights, and the police force had their full attention on both Clumzor and the mayor. There had been a metal fence barricade forming a semicircle and behind it were the officers. This set the stage for Clumzor.  
“Freeze and put your hands up!”  
He laughed and threw the mayor down in front of him, on the mayor’s hands and knees. The officers were not going to do anything while he had the mayor under his control and he knew that.  
“Go ahead mayor, stand up!”  
And the mayor did, shuddering.  
“O-O-o-kay… W-what now…?”  
Clumzor threw a plate at him, alerting the cops, but as soon they saw they mayor was unharmed, they stood down. They didn’t want something worse to happen. The mayor collapsed to the floor once again, but against his own will. Cat Noir and Ladybug had just arrived on the scene, peeking out on a rooftop.  
“What is he doing to Mayor Bourgeois?” ask Cat Noir.  
Both Ladybug and Cat Noir looked him, seeing him struggling to get up and being humiliated.  
“Do you see Paris!? This is your mayor! Your sorry excuse for a leader! Who can’t even get up on his own two feet!” Clumzor used the bottom of his shoe to push and lightly kick him around, laughing at and humiliating the mayor even more. Finally, the police officers had enough and decided to rush in and assault him, but Clumzor reacted. He formed a dome of millions and millions of plates with an opening, so the news could get their footage but the police couldn’t get in. When the officers tried breaking the plates, the plates instead retaliated and struck them causing them to undergo the same state the mayor was in. “And look at this police force! No wonder you need superheroes!”  
Ladybug had seen enough.  
“LUCKY CHARM!”  
She got a MP3 player, that only had opera tracks on it.  
“I hope you aren’t planning to put him to sleep with that music.” joked Cat Noir.  
She put his joke aside and used her hero power. From what she could see, the items that lit up were the dome, then the plates in his hand and then the miraculous. She needed to get close to break the dome, or else Clumzor would have more than enough time to poise a counter attack.  
“Cat Noir, can you break that dome for me?”  
“Can do, M’lady”  
He jumped down and now the attention was all on him.  
“You mind if I break this dome really quick?”  
“CATACLYSM!”  
He touched as many plates as he could, while dodging the retaliting plates, destroying nearly three-quarters.  
Clumzor, now angered by this interruption, spawned more plates to remake the dome and attack Cat Noir, but Ladybug wasn’t going to let that happen. She ran towards him.  
“Enough! I’ve had it with you two!” exclaimed Clumzor.  
He accelerated his plates spawning and their velocity incredibly, but it was no match once the MP3 was turned on. The opera music that played resonated a frequency that shattered all the plates that came at Ladybug and Cat Noir, no matter how fast. They approached him closer and closer, breaking that plates that didn’t shatter quick enough with their weapons, until they and Clumzor were an arms length away. He tried making one last plate to blind them, but the MP3 player was close enough, that it shattered it and the shard where the akuma was hiding. Clumzor realized his defeat as he saw the akuma fly away. It was time for Ladybug to capture it.  
“No more evil doing for you, akuma.” Ladybug slid her finger down the center of her yoyo, opening it to a white, shining portion.  
“Time to de-evilize!” She swung her yoyo around like a ribbon artist would and captured the akuma.  
“Gotcha!”  
It cleared the darkness away from it and flew off.  
“Bye bye, little butterfly.”  
She threw the MP3 player into the air, yelling, “Miraculous Ladybug!”, showering everywhere with ladybugs that fixed all the damage caused by the akuma and damage necessary to defeat the akuma.  
“Ughhhh… what happened?”  
“Pound it!” Cat Noir and Ladybug fist bumped.  
Both their miraculouses blinked, indicating that they would change back soon. 

“My plans have been ruined! But next time I won’t make such clumsy mistakes!” Hawkmoth closed the window in his lair and left.

“I gotta go. Bug out!”  
“I gotta go too!” he realized. “I need to check on Marinette!”  
They both arrived back at the restaurant, transforming back in their spots that they said they would be earlier. Marinette finished her transformation first and ran off inside the restaurant, looking for Adrien.  
“Adrien! ADRIEN!”  
But just as she arrived at the door it, she saw Adrien running up to her, nearly out of breath. She ran up to him and hugged him.  
“I’m so glad you’re ok.”  
Adrien hugged her back.  
“Same…”  
They turned around to see the restaurant filled with people on the floor, distraught, but able to finally get up except for the cashier hiding in a fetal position behind the display of pastries. Marinette and Adrien looked at each other and knew now was the time to get that gift.  
“Hi, can I get a slice of strawberry mousse cake?” asked Marinette.  
“And can I get eclairs?” asked Adrien.  
The cashier still shaken up from the event got up and said, “Y-y-yes… Right away!”  
They got their gifts for Ben and headed outside. It was late at night. The moonlight lit on them, as if they were under a spotlight. Marinette took a deep breath, taking in the deep blue night sky, the brisk air, and what happened today, all into to her.  
“Today was… pretty good, all things considered.” said Adrien  
“Yeah, we need to do this again sometime!”  
Adrien smiled at her and walked up closer to her until their arms were touching. She no longer blushed and edged just a bit closer to him too. “I can’t wait this meet this new kid at school.” said Adrien.  
“I hope he likes our gifts!”  
“Tell me one person who doesn’t like food.”  
She laughed. “Yea, you’re right... I wonder what Alya and Nino got him.”  
“I hope it’s not more food.” They started laughing.  
Adrien’s bodyguard, who had driven all over town, avoiding the path of destruction of Clumzor, had finally found Adrien, standing on the sidewalk. Adrien saw the car and the bodyguard inside.  
“Adrien, your bodyguard’s here!”  
Marinette didn’t know that his bodyguard hadn’t been looking for him all around town, but Adrien was able to deduce that. He was left surprised by the persistence of his bodyguard.  
“Oh-h-h y-yea! Thanks Marinette.”  
He walked towards the car. He could see that his bodyguard was angry and that he was not going to be scot-free when he gets home. But once he got into the car, he looked at Marinette.  
“Thanks for this.” he said to her.  
“Anytime!” she exclaimed. Adrien closed the door and went back home.  
Her father had just arrived and ran out of the car to hug her.  
“Marinette are you okay!? I saw what happened over the TV and I went to go to the mall to pick you up and I couldn’t find you! And I looked for you everywhere! And…and...”  
He ran out of breath, out of anxiety and speaking.  
“It’s okay Dad. I’m okay. I’m sorry, it’s my fault, I didn’t tell you where I was going to leave the mall.”  
She hugged him back. Her father was just happy that she was okay.  
“Let’s go home, sweetheart.”  
Marinette entered the car, happy that she finally did what no other girl did.  
“What’s that in your hands?”  
“Oh, it’s some pastries I bought.”  
“You could’ve just asked me to make you some.”  
“Yea, but I didn’t want to bother you.”  
Her father smiled, “Well I made a surprise for you at home.” Marinette became curious.  
Once they got home, her father handed her a box. She opened it, to find it filled with macaroons.  
“I remember you told me something about a new student and getting a gift for him. Remember the macaroons I gave you on your first day of school?”  
“Yea! He’s going to love them! Thank you!”  
She hugged him once more.  
“Run along now, you have school tomorrow and it’s already late.”  
And she did, she got into her pajamas, put the pastries away and did her nightly routine. She was ready for the day tomorrow. 

Adrien had just arrived home, with his bodyguard following closely behind him. Once he entered his house, he saw his father standing on top of the stairs, staring at him angrily.  
“Father, I’m sorry! I just wanted to go out with a friend without my bodyguard... I don’t need a bodyguard sometimes.”  
“Who was it that you were willing to sneak out and get in trouble for!?”  
“My friend, Marinette.”  
“The girl that had my book before? The one that won my hat making contest? The one that was with you during the gorilla attack?”  
“Yes!”  
Mr. Agreste could sympathize. He remembered the first time with his wife and he didn’t want to impose that much on his son’s love life. But he was still suspicious of who he was going out with.  
He sighed. “Fine. Just prepare for bed. You have school tomorrow. Just next time… let me know what you’re doing.” Mr. Agreste walked away, he also had business tomorrow with Qún So.  
Adrien looked at him brightly and ran up to hug his father, surprising him.  
“Thank you, Dad.” He finished hugging him and then ran off to prepare for bed.  
“What’s that in your hands?” asked his father.  
“Just a present for a new student that’s arriving tomorrow.”  
“Is his name Ben?”  
“Yea, how did you know?”  
Mr. Agreste smiled and walked away. “You’ll figure it out tomorrow.”  
He thought weirdly at his father remark, but put it off.  
“It’s probably nothing.”  
He put the eclairs and the camembert sandwich away. He no longer needed the sandwich so he figured,”Maybe, Ben would like it? Nah. I’ll just leave it here.”  
He too, was prepared for the day tomorrow. 

The Arrival  
“Ben! Ben! Wake up! We’re here!”  
His mom shook him and woke him up. They had finally arrived in Paris. He groggily unbuckled his seatbelt on the plane and waited until the pilot gave the all clear for them to exit the plane. It was 8PM in Paris nearly nighttime and they just got into the airport terminal.  
“Wait here, I’m going to use the bathroom really quick.”  
“Alright, mom.”  
Floe was still asleep in his jacket and not wanting to disturb him, he waited, standing next to the women’s bathroom. He put his head down until he heard something on the TV.  
“Don't be bemused, it's just the news! Hi, I’m Nadja Chamack, and in today’s scoop we have Paris’s superheros Ladybug and Cat Noir saving Paris once again from Clumzor, another akumatized victim.”  
“Akumatized?”  
What Ben saw next were pictures and videos of the two heroes fighting off Clumzor, which only left him surprised and with more questions.  
“Those were some of heroes I was talking about a while back.”  
Floe had finally woken up and spoke to him hidden higher up in Ben’s jacket.  
“Ready to go?”  
His mom had finished from the bathroom and came up behind him. He jumped, afraid that his mom might have seen Floe. His questions would have to wait.  
“Yea...yea! Let’s go!” Ben said as he scratched his head walking away. His mom looked at him perplexingly.  
“He’s just getting used to a new place.”  
His mom caught up to them, put her arm around his shoulder and smiled at him to comfort and said “Everything’s going to be great here!”  
After everything had been done in the airport, they called a taxi and were off to their new house.  
They arrived.  
Once Ben and his mom entered the house, they were elated. The house looked as if it were designed for luxury. The living room was massive along with Ben’s room and the master bedroom. Ben enjoyed the bay window that was in his room. As Nino would say, “I’ve seen football fields smaller than [these] room[s].” The walls were already painted with his mom’s favorite color, sky blue and the flooring was already patched up and fixed, with the appliances such as the toilet and stove being up-to-date. The backyard even had a pool and patio, large enough for neighborhood barbeques. It was as if someone had planned all of this ahead of time. Ben’s mom knew this was the working of Gabriel Agreste, her employer, and Ben had suspected this too.  
“Near my falconry school and a mansion!? It doesn’t get any better.”  
“Time to unpack!” exclaimed Ben’s mom.  
And so they did. The SuperU trucks later came by with the large packages. Ben and his mom were happy to see that all of their furniture and personal belongings were intact. He was especially happy to see that his bird feathers and bed were okay too. Immediately, they began putting up the paintings they took with them, setting up the the cabinets, beds, and bookshelves, setting furniture in the living room, putting clothes away in the closets, and discussing where some decorations such as vases, flowers. and artwork should go.  
“Wouldn’t this painting look great above the TV?”  
He wasn’t paying attention, he grabbed a photo from one of the boxes. It was him, his father, and his mother, on their first vacation. His eyes got wet, but no tears came out.  
His mom came to him, and saw what he was so focused on.  
“You can put that photo in your room if you want.”  
His mom handed him a picture frame and hugged him. She looked back at the clock they hung up on top of the fireplace. It was near midnight and they weren’t done with the decorations.  
“Hey, we’ll continue hanging up the stuff tomorrow, we got a big day ahead of ourselves and it’s getting late.”  
“Alright, I’ll get ready for bed.”  
He went off to go brush his teeth. He remembered his questions about his powers.  
“Floe, I’ve got more questions,” said Ben, lifting a side of his jacket to let Floe out.  
“So there are others like me? Maybe I’ll get to see them tomorrow. And what does that term mean? ‘Akumatized’?”  
“Well! There are many others like you! The two that we saw on TV were Ladybug and Cat Noir, only two of the many heros.”  
Ben spit out the toothpaste foam in his mouth.  
“So, if there are superheros existing, why do I need these powers? I’m sure they do a good job on their own protecting others.”  
“Well… that’s the hard part of explaining this. I don’t really know… I don’t know how but I have small fragments of memories the other kwamis. That’s how I’m able to explain some of this to you. I don’t even know how I’m made! As for the definition of ‘akumatized’ I don’t know what that means either… All I can say right now is that this powers like me have been passed down for thousands of years, and you are the first to receive me.”  
Unlike the other kwamis, Floe was never told or taught anything since he was only recently awaken. He was only left with basic knowledge of his power and himself, along with tiny fragments of memories of other kwamis, which he received when each miraculous put a portion of their power into making Floe.  
“Hmmm... I’ll figure out more tomorrow Thanks, Floe.”  
“Mhmm, if you learn anything new, tell me!”  
He went back into Ben’s jacket and went back to sleep.  
“Man, this kwami really loves sleep.”  
Ben chuckled. He finished brushing his teeth and washed his hands, took a shower, changed into his pajamas and went off to bed.  
And off he was to sleep.

“Morning!”  
“Wake up! You don’t want to be late for your first day of school!”  
Ben got up from his bed, still very tired from being up late last night. He got out of bed and went to go choose his clothing.  
“What to wear, what to wear…”  
He chose a navy-blue shirt with two buttons on it and a pocket square, along with a pair of black tight sweatpants, and a designer grey jacket with fur inside that his mom bought him for his most recent birthday and the one he wore yesterday. He checked inside it and still found Floe asleep. He smiled at him, the thought of a powerful being sleeping so much made him laugh a little. He put his phone and his earbuds inside his pockets, grabbed his backpack and came out to have breakfast with his mom. He looked around and saw that the boxes and packages were gone, and all the decorations hung up.  
“I woke up early today and fixed up all the decorations, knowing that all the boxes were still here unorganized, messy and all over the place kept me awake.”  
“Looks nice, I wouldn’t have these designs any other way.”  
The sound of eggs crackling and toast popping out of the toaster let him know it was time to eat. He grabbed two pieces of toast and topped them with scrambled eggs. He gobbled them down quick.  
“Are you ready for school?”  
“If it’s anything like like it was Cali, I don’t want to go.”  
She laughed. “It’ll be fine. I’m sure you’ll make some friends here. How’s your french?”  
“Mon français va bien.”  
“See? You’re going to do fine here. Tell you what, I got a text from your falconry teacher of that Maxe is supposed to be here today. I’ll take you to him after school.”  
Ben smiled, it had only been three days but it had felt like an eternity away from Maxe for Ben.  
“Thanks, Mom.”  
“Alright, come on finish your breakfast and I’ll take you to school.”  
__________________ 

“Marinette, WAKE UP! You don’t want to be late to school. The new kid will be here.” exclaimed Tiki.  
“Oh right, Ben is here! AHHH! I GOTTA HURRY!”  
Marinette as usual woke up late and was scurrying through her closet to find her usual clothing. She ran down the stairs, kissed her parents, grabbed some toast, and was about to exit the building until her mom called her.  
“Marinette, aren’t you forgetting something?”  
“OH right, the gifts!”  
Her mom handed her the macaroons and the cake she bought from yesterday. Marinette kissed her parents and ran to school.  
Adrien too had woken up late.  
“Adrien! ADRIEN! Come on! Ben’S GOING TO BE HERE!” screamed Plagg to get Adrien awake.  
“Huh? What…?”  
He got up from his bed all groggy.  
“OH RIGHT! Ben’s here!”  
He jumped out of his bed, went to go do his morning routine, got changed and was ready for his bodyguard to take him to school, until his father called him.  
“Adrien, give this to Ben.”  
He handed him a solid black rectangular box, which had a golden feather symbol on it. It was wrapped with a blue ribbon.  
“What is it, father?”  
“Just a welcoming gift from me.”  
“Ben’s going to have a lot of gifts coming his way.”  
“Alright dad, I’ll let him know it came from you.”  
“Dad getting a gift for someone? He won’t even get a gift for me! I wonder what it is…”  
He shook the box, but the item made no distinct sound. He shook it more but gave up. He grabbed the eclairs from yesterday and went off with his bodyguard to head to school.  
________________________

Ben had arrived at the steps of Francoise Dupont High School.  
“Alright, let’s do this!”  
He walked through the entrance and received the looks of everyone there.  
“It’s the new kid!”  
“He doesn’t really look like a model…”  
“It’s the kid, Mr. Bustier was talking about!”  
“Is that him!?” They whispered to each other.  
Every student looked at him, knowing fully who he was. They saw a 172 centimeter tall asian boy, whose physique was “normal”. He had black hair and brown eyes. To the students who saw him, they expected a supermodel son, like Adrien, but Ben didn’t inherit any supermodel traits from his mother. He was no supermodel, but he was definitely not the way Chloe had described him earlier.  
“He isn’t obese at all…” whispered one of the students in the back. Shortly after they ignored him and went back to their usual business. They remembered that he was from the Americas, and assumed that he didn’t speak french, so they wanted to avoid a conversation with him. Ben knew this.  
He exclaimed to the crowd who turned away from him, “Does anyone know where Mrs. Bustier’s class is?”  
Everyone turned back to him with a surprised look. The boy they thought who came from the Americas, spoke perfect french. Mrs. Bustier came out of her classroom, hearing this. She too, was surprised by his knowledge of french.  
“My class is up here!” she yelled.  
Ben walked up to stairs, went into the class and saw Ms. Bustier standing up next to her table.  
“Welcome to Francoise Dupont High School!” she said proudly and warmly.  
“I am Ms. Bustier, your literature and language teacher. Your french is surprising good!”  
“Thank you, I was taught everything there is to know!”  
“Well go ahead and choose a seat. The only ones that are available are the last two tables on the right.”  
Ben choose to sit in the second to last table, behind Marinette and to the right of Ivan, both of which had not arrived yet. Waiting for the class to start, he took out his phone and began doing more research on the villians and heros of France.  
“There’s gotta be a past archive of all the villains in France.”  
He came across the Ladyblog, ran by Alya Césaire. He scrolled through, finding private interviews with Ladybug, multiple images of Ladybug and Cat Noir working together, posts about speculations of their identities, exclusive pictures, and finally saw the villains he was searching for. For every villain he saw, he saw the word ‘akumatized’ in its description.  
“There’s that word again. ‘Akumatized’.”  
After reading through most of the posts, he concluded that ‘akumatized’ meant to become evil.  
“But why so specific as ‘akuma’? What is an akuma?”  
He found a villain called Stonehart. On its page, he found the video of Ladybug standing up to Hawkmoth. He watched it as it answered almost all the questions that he had, but also making more.  
“He wants the miraculouses.” He looked at his bracelet. “Well, I’m never giving him the chance of becoming a falcon. And I don’t know why he’d want to be a ladybug, but I won’t judge.”  
He assumed that Hawkmoth could eliminate those in his way by removing their miraculous, unbewest of Hawkmoth’s true desire for the miraculouses.  
“And Hawkmoth is the villain. But what’s his power? To show himself as a bunch of black butterflies? I’ve never butterflies of that species too. What are they?”  
Ben then watched Ladybug capture all the black butterflies and releasing them as white ones.  
“Why is she capturing them?”  
TRIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGG!  
The bell for school to start had finally rung, and students started entering Ms. Bustier’s class. Ben put his phone away. “I’ll find out more later!”  
First came Alya and Nino. Once they saw Ben, they waved at him as if they knew him.  
Alya whispered to Nino, “It’s the new kid!” They instantly recognized him.  
Ben waved back, but was not expecting any students to greet him. He was curious about the box Alya had in her hands.  
“It looks sorta like my feather boxes.”  
They sat down in their seats, but their partners Marinette and Adrien were missing. Alya leaned over the table and spoke with Nino, “The lovebirds are going to be late again.”  
“Lovebirds? Late again??” Ben thought. Next came in Ivan, his table partner.  
“That’s one big dude.” He hadn’t seen anyone that was near double his size that was not on television. Ivan sat down next to Ben.  
“Hey, you must be Ben. I’m Ivan!”  
He held out his hand for a handshake. Ben shook his hand but with an even more surprised look on his face.  
“How do you know my…?”  
Before he could finish his sentence, in stormed Adrien and Marinette. They crashed and slid in their seats, catching Ben’s attention.  
“AHHH, I *gasp* made it! I’m not late! *gasp* Right!?” exclaimed Marinette, gasping for air.  
Alya laughed. “Don’t worry, girl you’re fine!”  
“What took you so long dude?” asked Nino to Adrien.  
“I *gasp* just woke up late.” replied Adrien, out of breath.  
“I’m guessing those are the two lovebirds.”  
“Ohhh, is Ben here yet??”  
Alya giggled quietly and proceeded to point at Ben, who was directly behind Marinette. She waved at him embarrassingly, as if she had been caught as a stalker. Ben waved back, this time shyer than when he waved back at Alya.  
“How does everyone know my name??? No way falconry has made that famous and I’m pretty sure my mom’s not that popular of a model in France. Yet.”  
Adrien was next to ask.  
“Hey, did Ben arrive yet?”  
“Look behind you dude.” Nino then pointed at Ben. Adrien looked at him and they caught glances. Adrien waved at him and once again Ben waved back, much less shy this time, knowing who Adrien was.  
The bell rung once more to denote the start of class. Ms. Bustier got up and introduced Ben. “Hello class! Today, as many of you have seen, we have a new student named Ben! Why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?”  
Ben stood up from the seat, maintaining a captive audience. He was not used to opening up about himself to others, mainly because he didn’t have many, if any, people to open up to.  
“Well, I am from the United States, more specifically California. I like birds… and math…”  
Ben stood there, embarrassed. He was thinking of something to say, but drew a blank. He did not want to end his sentence with an “...and yeah.” It was silent for a few moments with everyone staring at him. Finally, Chloe broke the silence.  
“Really? That’s all you have to say? For the son of a supermodel, you’re really uninteresting. I thought you would at least look the part of a supermodel, but I guess you didn’t get those...”  
Alya stepped up, “Hey! That’s enough Chloe! We want to hear him! Not you!”  
“Well, I was just saying what we were all thinking.”  
Marinette was about to jump in until Ms. Bustier calmed down the situation.  
“Alright girls, please calm down.” Both Chloe and Alya sat back down. Alya had an angry look while Chloe had a snarky one. “Well, it was very nice hearing from you, Ben. I’m sure you’ll find many birds here in Paris.”  
Ben glanced at Chloe with daggers in his eyes, but turned the other cheek. He had completely forgotten about his falconry career. He sat back down, finally remembering it.  
“Well… too late now.”  
Ivan patted him on the shoulder.  
“Hey, don’t worry about Chloe, she’s just like that. Don’t let her get to you.”  
Alya turned around, “Yea, don’t worry about what she says. It’s completely meaningless.”  
Ben smiled. “Thanks, guys.”  
“Already better than Cali.”  
“By the way, your french is really good! How’d you learn it so well?” asked Marinette.  
“Yeah, I’m curious too.” said Adrien. Their comments had them and the whole class turn to Ben.  
“Well, when I lived in the Americas, my father taught me french. He was french himself.”  
The class was impressed, but Ms. Bustier was relieved. She wouldn’t have to deal the difficulties of a language barrier of a new student, making teaching Ben much easier.  
“Alright class, let’s begin.”  
Ms. Bustier taught the class until the bell rung for lunch. The four left their gifts in the class, wanting to give it to Ben at the end of school day. Once at the lunch area, Ben was about to go home to go eat his lunch alone, but then heard someone call his name.  
“Ben, come eat with us!”  
He turned around to it was the four with Alya, Marinette, Adrien and Nino all waving at him at him to come over.  
They were all sitting on the bench but Ben decided to sit on the floor in front of them. He was still quite shy, so he kept his head down, not wanting to make direct eye contact. They all introduced themselves to him.  
“So how are you liking school so far, Ben?” asked Nino.  
“It’s better than my old school in the States, I will say.” said Ben  
“Any plans after school?” asked Marinette.  
“Well I should have mentioned this class, but I do falconry. I was going to train with my falcon…”  
“Maxe, right?” interjected Alya. She realized she just said information that Ben had never said before, slightly covering her mouth, full of embarrassment. Ben looked at her oddly first but then realized, “They know my name already, whatever.” He then smiled with his head down and replied, “Yea, I’m guessing you guys already did research on me... What else do you know about me?”  
“Well us two only know your name,” said Marinette pointing at her and Adrien, “It’s the other two that know more.” She smirked at Nino and Alya.  
Nino stepped up and answered, “Along with what you said in class today, we know you got a lot of wins in falconry competitions.” He dared not bring up Ben’s father.  
“And just an FYI, Ms. Bustier told us your name yesterday.” said Alya, backing up Nino.  
“Why?”  
“Well, a little tweety bird over there heard a new student was coming to our high school.” Alya replied, smirking back at Marinette. The spotlight was now on her. She got nervous and rubbed her head, she knew she was going to have tell him about what Chloe did.  
“I just meant to tell Alya. I only heard that the new student was from America but then everyone else heard and they started asking questions and then Chloe heard and started making fun of you for being…”  
“Being what?” Ben asked.  
“Being fat… and ugly...” Marinette couldn’t say that looking at him.  
“I see… What an odd conclusion to come to.”  
Ben turned around, he and Chloe looked at each other. Chloe immediately looked away in derision, as if Ben wasn’t good enough to be able to look at her. He looked away too, feeling sorry for her for having a personality like that.  
“But Ms. Bustier heard and saw every Chloe did and came out and defended you... and in doing so revealed your name.” Marinette said in a hurry to deter bad thoughts in his head, now being able to face him again.  
“How exactly did she ‘defend’ me?”  
“She used photos of your mother, Qùn.”  
Ben knew the beauty of his mother and how influential it was. He was able to piece together about what happened.  
“She’s very beautiful, Ben.” said Adrien, breaking the brief silence.  
“Thank you.” Ben recognized him. When he was driving to his new home, he saw posters of Adrien everywhere, and knew that he was the son of his mother’s employer, Gabriel. “You’re Adrien Agreste, aren’t you? The son of Gabriel Agreste.”  
“Yeah! I’m guessing you saw the posters around town.”  
“Yea, and my mother works for your father.”  
The four had their mouths wide open.  
“That’s how my father knows him!” thought Adrien.  
This was something Nino and Alya had not found in their research. “My dad never told me of him hiring some-” said Adrien.  
Ben chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad she found a job here. I didn’t really like the other jobs she had before.”  
Ben was surprised at how well a company as large as the Agrestes kept such a hiring a secret.  
“Hey, if you finish your falconry early, how about I take you on a tour of our world of Paris?” offered Nino.  
“Sure, why not? But let’s go tomorrow, I won’t have falconry then.”  
“I’ll come along too.”  
“Yea, me too!”  
“Me three!” said Alya, Adrien, and Marinette. Marinette was also excited that Adrien would be accompanying them. Ben could see her excited but kept it to himself.  
“Lovebirds…”  
The bell rang to end lunch and the five went to Ms. Mendeleiev’s class.  
“Oh cool, we even have the same science class together!” said Adrien.  
Ben smiled and looked at the four. “Yeah, that’s pretty awesome.”  
When he entered class, he met Ms. Mendeleiev. She wasn’t expecting much and since she thought that Ben didn’t speak french, this brought these expectations down even further. And Ben could see that.  
“You must be that new student Ben, well go ahead and choose any seat that’s available.”  
He stayed silent, wanting to surprise her later on. He choose to sit next to Ivan again. He waved Hi to Ivan as soon as he sat down. Ms. Mendeleiev began without even introducing Ben.  
“Today we will be learning about nuclear physics, more specifically nuclear processes. Now can anyone tell me one property that prevalent in these types of processes?”  
She looked at everywhere around the class but Ben, she was expecting the answer “mass is conserved” as segue to her lesson. When no one raised their hand to give an answer, Ben did. She was surprised. “Yes? You can go use the bathroom.”  
Ben laughed. “In nuclear decay, the mass is not conserved. Some of the mass is lost as energy according to the mass-energy equivalence..”  
Ms. Mendeleiev was caught off guard and had her mouth wide open. He gave the correct answer in perfect french. Ben smiled with a swagger on his face.  
“I took physics back in America. I’m just taking again here cause the school requires me to for my grade level.”  
She kept on teaching class but this time couldn’t face Ben. He answered every question the class couldn’t and when she began teaching math, it was easy pickings for him. The class, already surprised by his french in Ms. Bustier’s class was now even further surprised by his skill in math and science.  
“You’ve got competition, Max.” whispered Kim.  
The bell rung again signalling the end of class and the end of the school day. The four that walked out of school became five.  
“Ben, we got something f-” said Marinette before being cut off.  
“Wait, hold up I got a call.” said Ben.  
It was his falconry coach, unfortunately the plane delivering Maxe was delayed, so Ben would not be doing falconry today. Ben put down his phone with a disappointed look on his face, but Adrien walked up to him and put his hand on Ben’s shoulder.  
“Everything alright?” he asked.  
“The plane delivering Maxe got delayed. I won’t be seeing him today…” said Ben.  
He had another idea, “What about we have that tour today?”  
Their faces lit up. “Sure!” exclaimed Nino.  
“So, we’ll all meet up here at five?” suggested Marinette.  
They all agreed. “Alright, that’d be great.” said Ben. As he said that his mom arrived, and picked him up to go home. Ben waved to his new friends bye.  
“I’m heard about Maxe. I can call the company and have them deliver Max ASAP today, if you want.”  
“It’s whatever. I’ll wait an extra day for him.”  
“How was school?”  
“School was alright, it’s much better than Cali. Especially since I can go home at lunch. How was work?’  
“Mr. Agreste is great to work with. You know he has a son that goes here.”  
“Yea, I met him. He’s a pretty chill dude.”  
It was silent for a bit until Ben broke it.  
“Hey, can you drive me back to school later, at 5?”  
His mom smiled. She knew there is no other reason for him to come back to school was unless he made friends. “I’m guessing you made friends. I told you it’ll be okay!”  
“Yeah, thanks Mom.” said Ben smiling along.  
“But you have to promise me, we’re hanging out together tomorrow. Just the two of us.”  
“Promise!”

The four decided to hold onto the gifts until the end of the tour and headed back to their houses to finish their homework. They all told their parents their plan with Ben and they all allowed them to go. Gabriel Agreste was also happy with this, surprisingly enough to Adrien.  
The time struck 5 PM.  
Moments later, Ben and Marinette arrived first.  
“Hey! Ready for the greatest tour of your life?” asked an excited Marinette.  
“Yep! Anything I should know beforehand, Miss Tour Guide?”  
“Well…” Marinette rubbed her chin. “Have you heard of Ladybug and Cat Noir?”  
“Yea, I saw them in the TV yesterday at the airport. They fighting off some dude with plates. Clumzor?”  
“Right! They are the heroes and saviors of Paris. So don’t be surprised if you see them on a lot of t-shirts and merchandise.”  
Then Alya, and Nino showed up.  
“Yo, whatsup!”  
“Hey guys!” greeted Nino and Alya. Marinette and Ben waved at them, with Alya hugging Marinette. Last to arrive was Adrien. He was happy to see they were all there. Ben noticed one thing about all of them.  
“Ready to go?” asked Nino.  
“Let’s go!” exclaimed Adrien.  
“One sec, what’s in those boxes?”  
The four of them laughed. “You’ll see at the end of the tour, Ben.” said Alya.  
“So, where should we go first?” asked Alya.  
“Oh, what about the Louvre?” suggested Marinette  
“I’m down.” said Ben. The four smiled.  
“I know the way, come on!” said Nino. They walked as five with Nino leading the pack. Walking and walking until they finally reached the Louvre. It was Ben’s first time here and he was not disappointed. They walked around each and every art exhibit in the Louvre, allowing Ben to soak in each artwork as they moved along. The four even explained the history of some the artwork to him. When they finished, they waited outside the Louvre for a bit, talking, taking in the sight of the Louvre Palace and the Louvre itself.  
“Amazing, right!?” exclaimed Marinette. This was one of Marinette’s favorite landmark, and it never ceases to amaze an art designer like her.  
“Yea, definitely a great first start! Where to next?” asked Ben.  
“What about the Trocadéro? I go there for my photoshoots sometimes. I love the view there.” suggested Adrien.  
“I know the fastest way there. Come on!” exclaimed Marinette. They all followed her until they reached the top of the stairs of the Trocadéro, looking down Ben could see that there was more, but what captivated him was what was right in front of him:The Eiffel Tower. The gold statues, the pillars, the running blue water, the architecture of the curved buildings all impressed Ben as well.  
“I have to come back here on my own sometime.”  
“I can see why you guys like the view so much.”  
“I come here all the time to get inspiration for my designs.” said Marinette.  
“You design, Marinette?” asked Ben.  
“Yea, but I’m not as good as the father of a certain Agreste here.”  
Adrien blushed.  
“You’ll have to show me some of them later on.”  
“Let’s get a closer look at the Eiffel tower!” exclaimed Alya. She ran off towards it, and the rest followed. Once they reached the bottom the stairs of the Trocadéro, Ben stood there in amazement, as this was his first time seeing the Eiffel tower, and this up close.  
“I need to get a photo!” exclaimed Ben.  
He pulled out his phone taking shots at the Trocadéro and Eiffel Tower at every angle. He even pulled his “tour guides” in, one by one taking selfies with them and then asked for a group photo. He had grown out of his shy shell.  
“Mom’s gonna love these photos!”  
As a group they walked together around the Eiffel Tower, allowing Ben examining the intricacies and design of it.  
“I haven’t seen places this good at home.”  
Soon, after they headed back to the top of the Trocadéro.  
“Alright guys I got time for one more spot!”  
“Hmmm, the Ponts Des Art Bridge! That would make a great ending to this tour.” said Alya.  
“And I know the best way to get there. Rickshaw!” said Marinette. She remembered the “Secret Garden” plan she made with Alya and the other girls. Now this would be her time to ride the rickshaw with Adrien. Alya remembered this too.  
“Smart thinking, girl.” said Alya.  
As luck would have it, a rickshaw came by just as Marinette recommended it. They all ran and signalled to it.  
“So how are we gonna sit in here?” asked Ben.  
“You, Nino and me will sit in the back in that order.” Alya then turned to Adrien and Marinette. “And you two, will in the front!”  
She had carefully planned out the placement to place the two lovebirds together. Marinette became flustered and blushed, but since the date with Adrien, she was able to handle herself better. However, she still babbled and stuttered a bit when talking.  
“Alright, I’m cool with that.” said Adrien.  
“Y-yea, I’m school-cool with that tool-too!”  
They got into the rickshaw. Ben offered to pay. “I got this one guys”. He pulled out fifteen dollars USD. from his wallet and forgot that he was in Paris.  
“Oh right… umm guys....”  
“It’s alright I got it!” said Adrien, seeing that Ben only had American currency.  
“I’ll get these exchanged, I promise.” said Ben, laughing.  
They got into the rickshaw. Ben, Nino and Alya got in the back first, then Adrien and Marinette in the front. Marinette touched Adrien’s hand entering, causing them to have an awkward stare with each other.  
“Oh! Sorry!” said Marinette, blushing.  
“All good!”  
“To the Ponts Des Art bridge!” exclaimed Alya to the rickshaw driver. The man drove and drove until he reached a circular intersection which was jammed with cars. It was filled to the point where the rickshaw couldn’t maneuver around the other cars. They waited in idle.  
“Hey, what’s going on?” asked Ben.  
“There seems to be a traffic jam… Looks like we’ll have to wait.” answered the rickshaw driver.  
Moments after he said that, a wagon truck came by loaded with fireworks. It ran into the back of the rickshaw.  
“WHOAAAA!!”  
The kids and the rickshaw driver were disoriented, with the rickshaw driver falling out of his seat and onto the floor, hurting his head. He got up and walked to the driver of the truck, furiously.  
“Hey you! Get out of your truck!”  
The lady from the truck exited. “What do you want?”  
“Do you realize what you just did!? That rickshaw has been in family for generations! And you just put a massive dent into it!”  
“Okay… I’m sorry? It was your fault for parking so badly.” The lady put his finger on the rickshaw driver, looking at him straight in the eye with anger as well.  
The rickshaw driver grabbed the finger and threw it off. “Look you better repay me or…or..!”  
“Or what? You’ll start to stutter?” She started to laugh in his face.The others in the rickshaw had heard all of this, for Ben got out first and stood in between the two, trying to deescalate the situation. The other four followed suite.  
“Hey, stop this! Throwing threats and trying to hurt one another won’t get anywhere!” Ben said.  
But the rickshaw driver didn’t listen. He decided to answer the lady’s last statement. He walked past Ben, went to the wagon and grabbed a firework.  
“Hey, what are you doing!?” exclaimed the lady. The rickshaw driver held the firework up in the air and broke it. He began to grab more and more, and started breaking them. The lady ran up to him, and tried reaching for the fireworks, but couldn’t; she was too short. Her reaches began to attack and scratch him.  
“You stop this right now! These fireworks are for the Jagged Stone music festival!”  
“Well, if you don’t pay me back, I’m gonna keep breaking these.”  
Ben ran up to them once more, trying to seperate them, but then the lady ran past him and towards the rickshaw. Ben stood still in confusion, panicking on who to stop. The lady began kicking the rickshaw, damaging it even more and more as the rickshaw driver was breaking more and more fireworks.  
“Alright, that’s enough!” exclaimed Adrien. He and Nino pulled the lady off the rickshaw, while Alya and Marinette were able to help Ben stop the man from destroying more fireworks.  
“Let’s go back to our own vehicles now.” said Marinette and so they did, but full of anger.  
The lady looked at her cargo of fireworks, nearly all of it destroyed.  
“Jagged Stone is going to be furious. I completely failed my job!” She got on her knees and began to cry. Likewise, the man looked at his broken-down rickshaw, and he too got on his knees and started to bawl.  
The five looked at both of them with sadness, Ben ran to the lady to comfort her, while the other four went to help the rickshaw driver. But it was too late…  
_____________________________________________________________  
“Ahhhh, the presence of more bad emotions! The destruction of the objects can also lead to the destruction of emotions! The fiery emotion that is anger!”  
He held a white butterfly in his hand, but then realized something.  
“My progress with the hunt for the miraculouses has been to slow. I think it’s time we take it up a notch.”  
This time, he had two white butterflies, one in each hand.  
“Go my butterflies! And akumatize them!”  
However, as soon as the butterflies left the window, he fell to floor on his hands and knees. He started coughing. If he wanted to produce more and more akumas, it comes at a price: his life force. And he knew that very clearly.  
He got back up, weaker than before.  
_______________________________________________________________  
“Look, everything will be alright. I’m sure, uhhh, this person will forgive you for this. It’s just fireworks.” said Ben, comforting the lady.  
“Thank you.” She grabbed an unbroken firework, and stared at it, wiping a tear away from her face. “This person, is Jagged Stone, a rockstar.”  
Ben patted her on the back, but then looked up to the sky. He saw two black butterflies.  
“Hey, look man we’ll help you repair this. Don’t worry about this.” said Nino, trying to comfort the rickshaw driver. The man stopped crying, but he didn’t pay attention to the kids. He further examined the damage on the rickshaw.  
“Thank you kids, but the material can’t be found anymore. And even if it did exist, we’d need a lot of it.”  
“Hey guys, does Paris have a rare species of butterflies? These two are all black.” exclaimed Ben. “Just like the ones in the video… ”  
As soon as they heard Ben’s description, they ran to him.  
“Ben, move out the way!”  
The butterflies split up, with one going to the rickshaw and the other one going to the firework the woman was holding. They had akumatized the lady and the rickshaw driver.  
“Flariot and Flara, my name is Hawkmoth. I will let you take your anger and rage out on Paris with the power of fire, on one condition: You must bring me Cat Noir and Ladybug’s miraculouses!” demanded Hawkmoth.  
“Yes, Hawkmoth!” exclaimed the both of them. A dark shadow had enveloped them transforming them into their evil forms. The lady became Flara. Her hair became a wild flame with her entire body engulfed in flames. On her back, held the akumatized firework which could spawn her more fireworks. These fireworks left a fiery explosion, but needed to be lit by a fire. Luckily for her, she was made of flames. The rickshaw driver became Flariot. He wore spartan armor, with the helmet having a mane of fire and his body being engulfed in flames as well. His rickshaw became a chariot, with a fiery, armored bull on the reins. The wheels and the seat holding Flariot were also engulfed in flames. They were finished with their transformation.  
Flara “exploded” at the end of her transformation, making Ben collapse to the ground.  
“Two of them!?” exclaimed Adrien and Marinette. They looked back and forth, looking at how dire the situation was. They saw Ben on the floor, separated from the group and right next to danger, but they could not get to him. Ben regained the sense of what was happening and looked up to see a fiery lady right above him.  
“Is she akumatized!?” He also looked at Flariot, “Is he as well!?” One thing he was sure about, he needed to transform into Falcon! He crawled away slowly, trying not to draw attention from Flara.  
“EVERYONE EVACUATE!” exclaimed the cop that was already on the scene. There was chaos everywhere as people were running in all directions. Flara and Flariot immediately began attacking. Flara threw her fireworks like javelins, aiming for the civilians, while Flariot toyed with the people in a game of predator and prey, before hitting them with his flamed whip turning them into ashen statues. They slowing dissolved, with each ash that fell igniting into a flame. His chariot left a trail of unending flame as he ran the civilians down.  
“Foolish citizens. Bow to Flara!” said Flara.  
“FALL TO ME! FLARIOT!”  
“Come on you two! We have to go!” exclaimed Alya. She dragged both Adrien and Marinette while running. Adrien and Marinette both began to ran, trying to keep up with Alya and Nino’s tempo.  
“But Ben!” exclaimed Marinette.  
“Ladybug and Cat Noir will save him! We need to go before we’re toast!” They kept running with Marinette looking back seeing Ben struggling to get away.  
“I’m sorry!”  
They ran and ran until Nino looked up and saw a firework headed towards them.  
“Move out the way!”  
The four dodged out of the way. The firework left a giant circle of flame, splitting up the four own their own and preventing them from regrouping. Fortunately, both Marinette and Adrien were in a now empty building while Alya and Nino hid together behind a brick wall, hugging each other.  
“SPOTS ON!”  
“CLAWS OUT!”  
Ready to Save the Day  
Ben had crawled away far enough to the point where he thought he could get up and start running. But that was his first mistake. His running caught the attention of Flara, causing her to throw fireworks at him. Ben dodged out of the way of all of them, thinking he was slick, but he also caught the attention of Flariot.  
“You think you can run from me!?” He whipped his bull, making it move faster and faster.  
“Aww, shoot!” Ben pushed himself to run faster, as the chariot was closing the distance between them. Flara stood where she was, confident that Falriot would catch him.  
“Come here boy! Help me burn the world!” He whipped as he got closer and closer, placing fear in Ben. But just as he was about to whip Ben, Ben turned and dodged. He ran through a building and kept on running until he realized that they stopped chasing him. He looked past the building and saw Cat Noir and Ladybug leaping from building to building, unable to fight back.  
“My turn to do the saving!”  
“Floe, I need to transform!”  
“Just say the words.”  
“TAKE FLIGHT!”  
______________________________________________________  
Ladybug and Cat Noir ran to the source of destruction, not having seen each other yet. What they saw their area in massive flames. It would be suicide for responders to try and come fight the fire.  
“Oh, please be okay Ben!” thought Ladybug.  
She arrived first seeing Ben run and a chariot on the verge of putting him down. She ran to the rooftop of the opposite building of where Ben was heading. As she saw them positioning to burn down the building to get Ben, she threw her yoyo stopping the incoming rampage of the chariot. An annoyed Flara threw a firework at her, without her yoyo to defend herself, she was wide open. But Cat Noir had arrived just on time and shielded Ladybug from the firework.  
________________________________________________________  
Flariot finally adjusted his chariot and Flara caught up to him. “Let’s burn this building down!”  
Flariot charged up his chariot and Flara had prepared a fan of fireworks to put the building to cinders. Flariot charged on, nearly colliding with the building until his chariot caught on to something: Ladybug’s yoyo.  
“You’re not going anywhere!” she exclaimed.  
Flara and Flariot turned around to see a Ladybug being a thorn in their side. Annoyed, Flara threw one of the fireworks at her. In came Cat Noir, he jumped in front of Ladybug, spinning his staff and destroying the firework.  
“Now the fight’s even!”  
“Thanks for the save!”  
Flara continued throwing fireworks at them, and they kept on dodging until Flara saw another opportunity. She threw a firework at the building, burning it down and causing Cat Noir and Ladybug to retreat behind another building. Now that they were on the ground, Flariot was no longer useless.  
“You two won’t be able to escape from us!”  
He charged up his chariot again and turned away from finding Ben.  
“We just have to stay on top of buildings! He’ll be useless if we do that!” said Ladybug.  
They leaped and leaped on top of new buildings but Flara kept on throwing fireworks to destroy them. Flariot followed along, waiting for his chance to catch them.  
“Why’d there have to be two of them!?” cried Cat Noir.  
“Hawkmoth must be getting impatient.”  
Cat Noir looked around, seeing that Ladybug’s plan wasn’t going to last them. There was more fire than there were buildings.  
“We can’t keep running! We’re not gonna have any buildings left!”  
“Let’s go down there!”  
They tried hid behind a building instead of going onto a rooftop, but this hiding was short lived. Flara threw another firework.  
“You know, now would be a good time for your friend Renarouge to come now!”  
“Well she’s…” The firework destroyed the building they were hiding behind, and they started running again of rooftops. “Caught up with something!”  
Ladybug would also love to have Renarouge come and help, but being chased by a flaming chariot and barraged by explosive fireworks left her no openings to go and see Master Fu.  
“Let’s go get her! I’ll cover for you!”  
“And bring them into the heart of Paris? And have them burn everything? No, we have to keep them contained here!”  
“If you want to keep them here, over there is our last building!”  
“LUCKY CHARM!”  
She had received a fight hydrant hose.  
“Now all we need is to find a hydrant!” said Cat Noir. They leaped behind the last building they had for cover. With the few seconds they had, Ladybug looked around but couldn’t find any, nor could she find anything else to do with the hose.  
“There are no hydrants around here! I don’t know what else to do with the hose!”  
Their time was up. The last building around them had burned down to ashes.  
“We have to fight back!”  
In front of them stood Flara with a firework primed in her hands.  
“She’s alone! Get her!” exclaimed Ladybug. But she was merely bait.  
Cat Noir and Ladybug jumped onto her spinning their weapons, deflecting the fireworks and soon engaged in combat. Ladybug swung her yoyo at Flara while Cat Noir struck Flara with his staff. Flara couldn’t block all the attacks using her fireworks anymore and fell down. But she never intended to stay in an uneven fight. Cat Noir extended his staff further, down to her chin, pushing down on it.  
“I guess we should become firefighters, right Ladybug?” bragged Cat Noir. “Now where’s that akuma?” He saw the firework on Flara’s back look different than others and reached for it.  
“Wait, where’s Flariot?” worried Ladybug.  
Flara laughed. “You brag too soon, Cat Noir! Now, Flariot!”  
From the sky came a firework that Flariot threw, that was given to him by Flara. This entire time, he had been in the outskirts, accelerating to full speed.  
“Ladybug, look out!” The firework was bullseye on Ladybug, and Flariot was about charge right into them. Cat Noir dove onto her, pushing her out of the way. Flariot missed them, and instead started running circles around them, preventing them from escaping.  
They were trapped.  
“Ahh, all it took was another akuma. How simple. Retrieve them for me please and I will let you continue your rampage.” said Hawkmoth.  
Flariot was about to whip them until Flara grabbed onto the whip. She wanted to toy with them before turning them into ashes.  
“Wait! We need something from them. Your miraculouses, please?”  
Ladybug got off the ground, looking around them and realizing that defeat was imminent.  
“Never! We’ll never give them to Hawkmoth!” She threw her yoyo at Flara, but Flara caught it and pulled it, pulling Ladybug closer to fire.  
“Fine, if you won’t give it to me. I’ll burn you off the miraculous!”  
She pulled Ladybug’s hair and edged her face closer and closer to the fire, while Ladybug was struggling to fight back.  
“NOOO! LET HER GO!”  
Cat Noir got up from the ground and extended his staff to hit Flara, but Flariot whipped the staff out of his hand. He whipped near Cat Noir’s feet causing him to fall, and put his foot on Cat Noir’s chest. He cracked his whip and was on the verge of striking Cat Noir until…  
“PIERCING DESCENT!”  
___________________________________________  
“Alright, let’s go help them out!”  
Falcon flew up and was about to fly to Cat Noir and Ladybug, until he saw people on the ground. There were families separated, people blocked and nearly burned, by the fire. “Ladybug and Cat Noir will last. These people won’t!”  
He flew down and grabbed them one by one, and flew them over the fire to the safety of firefighters and police officers that were on standby on the other side of the fire. Consequently, he was caught on camera.  
“Thank you… Mr…”  
“Falcon.” Ben bowed his head and flew off. He flew over buildings, and saw the same thing Cat Noir saw.  
“My first day in Paris and nearly everything’s on fire.”  
Finally, he reached where he last saw Flariot and Flara. He saw Ladybug and Cat Noir nearly defeated.  
“I guess it’s a good time to use that power now.”  
_____________________________________________  
Flariot and Flara stopped, with their full attention with the bird in the sky. Ladybug and Ladybug also looked up.  
“Who is that...?”  
Hawkmoth saw through the vision of Flara and Flariot.  
“No… It can’t be! ANOTHER MIRACULOUS!? Don’t let him stop you both! There’s two of you, stop him!”  
Falcon stooped down and dived.  
Flara responded and threw a firework at him, but he pierced right through it, cutting it in half.  
“WHAT!?” Flara exclaimed. She made another spear, ready to throw, but it was too late; Falcon finished his dive and did a dive-kick onto Flara, making her fly far away. Falcon landed in between Flariot and Cat Noir. Flariot attempted numerous whips at Falcon but failed. With his speed after the dive, he was able to dodge everything Flariot threw at him. Finally, he dodged enough to get close to Flariot. With his high speed and strength of his wings, he blew Flariot away along with his Chariot. With the enemies away from Ladybug and Cat Noir, he helped them up.  
“Thank you… but who are…?”  
“You two take Flara and I’ll get the Flariot.”  
He flew up and began another dive, he could see Flariot from where he was, but Flariot could also see him coming at an incredibly high speed. Flariot got back on his chariot, panicked, and whipped his bull to go faster and faster, but it was nothing compared to how fast Falcon went. The predator was now the prey. Ben finished this dive, grabbing Flariot and throwing him off his chariot; the chariot came to a halt. Ben remembered that the butterfly had travelled inside the rickshaw, making the rickshaw driver evil. Armed with this knowledge and research from earlier, he slashed and broke the chariot, letting out the same black butterfly he saw earlier. It tried to fly off, but Ben caught it. Flariot reverted back into the rickshaw driver.  
“Hmm, I’m guessing you’re an akuma.”  
This entire time his bracelet emitted a blipping sound each second, letting Falcon know when his speed would end. He grabbed the rickshaw driver and flew him to the first responders on the outskirts.  
“Let’s go check on Ladybug and Cat Noir.”  
________________________________________________________  
Ladybug and Cat Noir ran, following the flare they saw in the sky. They found her in a bush, but she had just gotten up, along with burning the bush. Enraged with the failure of the near success capture of the miraculouses, her eyes became a fully lit yellow and her hair and body flaming much stronger. She summoned numerous fireworks in her hands and lit them all up at once. She threw them up in the air, making them rain down on Cat Noir and Ladybug. Cat Noir and Ladybug kept dodging and approached her. They began the combat, striking her with the yoyo and staff, but the added challenge of a fireworks rain and the faster spawning of fireworks from Flara proved too much for the duo. They stopped their attack and went on the defense, planning a counterattack.  
“We need to put the fire out on her body! We can’t even get close right now!” exclaimed Ladybug.  
“But how!? We have no water supply!”  
Flara became more enraged, tired of them hiding. She spawned more and more fireworks from the sky, and produced even more fireworks in her hands.  
“Well, we need to do it quick! Or we’ll be ashes!” said Cat Noir.  
“There’s this hose, but I can’t do anything with it!  
“I know what to do.” said Ben, arriving on the scene. Flara threw a spear at him, but like Flariot she missed.  
Ben saw the hose that Ladybug dropped on the floor, to be able to use both hands to fight Flara. There were still no fire hydrants around.  
“Wait, buildings have water flowing in them.”  
With ten seconds of his speed left, he devised a last ditch plan. He flew down grabbed the hose.  
“Cat Noir, come with me.”  
Ben grabbed one ending of the hose and Cat Noir, got a running start and started flying.  
“WHOA! Slow down! Watch out, that’s a wall!”  
Falcon laughed at his comment. “Yea, I know.”  
He and Cat Noir flew through a wall of an apartment building, and flew through the floors to the basement , leaving an outline of them on the wall and on the floor they flew through. His speed bonus had ended.  
“I knew it, there are pipes here. Cat Noir, I need you to break that section of pipe.”  
“CATACLYSM!” Cat Noir slashed the pipe, destroying the section Falcon pointed at. Water began gushing out. Falcon immediately attached the ending of the hose on the section of broken pipe that was letting out the water.  
Ladybug saw water coming out of the hose and stopped defending herself.  
Flara aimed a barrage of fireworks at her.  
“You’re done for!”  
But was petrified once she saw Ladybug with the hose in her hands.  
“You brag too soon.” She pointed the hose at Flara, dousing her with high pressure water. The fire on her was gone, leaving only a black silhouette.  
Cat Noir and Falcon came up from behind.  
“I got it!” Cat Noir grabbed the firework and broke it, letting out the akuma.  
“Now we only need Flariot’s akuma!” said Cat Noir.  
“Ohh, so those black butterflies are akumas.” thought Ben.  
“I got it!” Falcon opened his hand, showing the akuma.  
“Great! I need to capture it.”  
Falcon let the akuma out of his hand.  
“Alright, do your thing, Ladybug.” said Falcon.  
“No more evil doing for you, akumas.” Ladybug slid her finger down the center of her yoyo, opening it to a white, shining portion.  
“Time to de-evilize!” She swung twice to catch both akumas.  
It cleared the darkness away from both of them and they flew off.  
“Bye bye, little butterflies.”  
She threw the hose into the air, “Miraculous Ladybug!”, showering everywhere with ladybugs that fixed all the damage caused by the akuma and damage necessary to defeat the akuma.The rickshaw and all the fireworks were fixed too. The rickshaw appeared right next to the rickshaw driver, he hugged it.  
The flames of Paris were gone, and three saw Paris like it was supposed to be. For the first time, Ben saw something truly miraculous. The restoration of Paris from an inferno. The sight of the ladybugs fixing everything took his breath away.  
“Pound it!” Cat Noir and Ladybug fist bumped, but they also saw Falcon about to take off.  
Ladybug threw her yoyo at him, tying him up and held him down.  
“You’re not going anywhere!” she said.  
“Yeah, we’re not having another fake hero situation again. Two akumas and a new hero? An unlikely coincidence.” said Cat Noir.  
“Well, unlike ‘the fake hero’, I don’t have the powers of lies, illusion and deception and I am not akumatized!” exclaimed Falcon, struggling to escape the rope.  
They were surprised that he knew what they were talking about.  
“And look. Why would I help you fight off the other villains when it would be easier to team up with them and take your miraculouses?”  
“Oh… right… uhh… We’re sorry.” said Ladybug.  
“Can I go now!?” said a frustrated Falcon. Ladybug untied him and Cat Noir helped him up.  
“We’re really sorry, it’s just…” said Cat Noir.  
“Don’t worry about it. I understand.” said Falcon, wiping the dirt off himself.  
“You’re a miraculous wielder too, aren’t you? How’d you get your miraculous?” She asked. Ladybug only knew of the miraculous inside Master Fu’s box.  
“Like you guys, I was chosen for it.” Falcon answered.  
“Where have been all this time!? There have been tons of akumatized villains! AND YOU DECIDE TO SHOW UP NOW?” exclaimed Cat Noir. Cat Noir knew that Ladybug had to get Renarouge to help, but with Falcon it was a different story.  
“Let’s just say my kwami has been… asleep for the longest time. I’m actually pretty new to this superhero scene.”  
“Well since you’re new, any questions you have us?” asked Ladybug.  
“Yea, why do you have to capture the akuma?”  
“If I don’t capture them, they can multiply and akumatize more and more people.”  
“And I’m guessing Hawkmoth makes these akumas.”  
“Yep! Except usually he only makes one…” said Cat Noir.  
“Well as superheroes, we have to be prepared for the worst.” replied Falcon. “Such as revealing our identities, Ladybug.”  
He heard Ladybug’s earring blip and saw that it only one spot left.  
“Oh, thanks for the warning!” She threw her yoyo, ready to bug out. “And thank you for your help.”  
“I gotta go too! Peace out! Perhaps the three of us will meet up again!” said Cat Noir.  
The three went back to the buildings they were in earlier to transform back into Ben, Marinette and Adrien.  
Marinette and Adrien ran out and saw each other, glad that they were safe. They began searching for Alya and Nino.  
“Alya!? Nino!?” yelled the both of them. Upon hearing this, Alya and Nino ran out of the brick wall they were hiding behind.  
“Oh, I’m so glad you guys are okay!” said Alya.  
Alya hugged Marinette as Nino hugged Adrien.  
“Wait, where’s Ben?” asked Alya.  
_____________________________________________________________  
“I’ve got customers to attend to!” exclaimed the rickshaw driver.  
He drove back to the spot where he was akumatized at, but couldn’t see Alya, Nino, Marinette, Adrien or Ben. He was disappointed that he had failed them, but then Ben came out of a nearby building.  
“Hey, it’s nice seeing you here! I’m glad you’re okay after all that.” said Ben.  
“Likewise! But where are your friends?”  
“They’ll be here soon, don’t worry. I have a feeling I won’t be ditched.”  
He leaned on the rickshaw, waiting for them.  
“At least I hope not.”  
______________________________________________________________  
The four ran back to the rickshaw and the fireworks truck, and saw Ben leaning on the rickshaw.  
“Well, that was a wild first day in Paris.” said Ben.  
The four came up and hugged him and Ben hugged back.  
“Let’s head to the Pont Des Arts bridge now, shall we?” said Marinette.  
The five went back to their usual positions in the rickshaw and luckily the traffic jam had stopped.  
They arrived.  
“I saw this bridge earlier!” thought Ben.  
Ben leaned on the railing of bridge. “I can’t believe that these landmarks are so close to us!”  
“That’s the beauty of Paris for you, Ben.” said Alya.  
“Thank you guys. For all of this.”  
“Oh, we’re not done.” said Adrien.  
The four held up their boxes in front of Ben.  
“Let’s go to my place, we can hang out there as a finale!” said Marinette.  
“Yes! And we can show him the best bakery in all of the world.” said Alya.  
The five had arrived at the Boulangerie Patisserie.  
“I went past this bakery on my way to the school!”  
“Mom, dad! I invited my friends over! We’re gonna hang out in my room!” yelled Marinette.  
“Is the new kid there?”  
“Yep!”  
“Oh I want to come meet him!”  
Her parents were cleaning in the kitchen area and opened the door to greet them. Ben shook hands with them.  
“Hi, I’m Mr. Dupain-Cheng! Marinette’s father.”  
“And I’m Mrs. Dupain-Cheng! Her mother.”  
“And I’m guessing Marinette told you about me yesterday. I’m Ben,” he said, chuckling. “It’s very nice to meet the both of you.”  
“Alright, we’re gonna head up to my room now!”  
As they walked, Alya got closer to Marinette.  
She whispered to her, “What about the posters and pictures!?”  
“Don’t worry, I got it under control.” Marinette said, smiling. She had planned this from the beginning.The five entered her room. Ben was impressed with what she had on her walls.  
“Wow, these designs look great Marinette!” said Ben.  
“Thank you!”  
She had replaced her pictures of Adrien with designs from her notebook.  
“This is a super nice hat you have here.” said Adrien, pointing at pigeon derby hat.  
Alya, Nino, and Marinette laughed quietly.  
“Alright, let’s get to the gifts!” said Nino. The four held up their presents in front of Ben.  
“Gifts?” asked Ben. “You guys shouldn’t have!”  
They sat on the floor of Marinette’s room.  
“Which one do you want to open first?”  
He grabbed Alya and Nino’s gift first, the box that had dimensions like Ben’s feather boxes.  
He tore off the wrapping and saw a clear case. Inside he saw a feather.  
“This is a feather from the rose-ringed parakeet! I was going to try and find one later on. Those birds are super rare, how did you find one?”  
“My dad’s a zookeeper and Nino was the one that recommended the present. We were just lucky that there was one at the zoo.”  
“Well, that’s one more feather down!” exclaimed Ben. “Thank you, both of you.”  
Adrien handed him his father’s gift next, the black box with the symbol of a golden feather on it.  
“Ben, this is from my father.”  
Ben took off the blue ribbon on it and opened it.  
“Whoa…” said everyone.  
He laughed. “I needed one of these.” It was a brand new falconry glove, fitted with solid black and tough leather, with the same gold feather symbol from the box. The glove and box were designed by Gabriel Agreste himself, and it’s design had everyone stunned. This was a very big improvement over his original glove.  
“Last but not least! These are from me and Adrien!”  
Marinette gave him the boxes containing the slice of strawberry mousse cake and the eclairs.  
“And my mom and dad made this for you!”  
She then handed him the boxes of macaroons. Ben opened all three at once, and his eyes lit up. Not having eaten lunch yet, this was perfect for him.  
“Thank you so much guys!” He hugged all four of them. “But I won’t be able to finish this alone. Join me!”  
And they did. They ate and had a conversation about their life in Paris, about Ben’s life in the states, Ben’s mom as a model and more topics until Marinette’s mom came in.  
“Kids, you need to look at this!”  
The five ran down to the living room and saw the news on the TV, led by Nadja Chamack.  
“We have some fiery headlines in today’s news! There were two villains out in Paris today, not just one, named Flara and Flariot! Luckily, Ladybug and Cat Noir had some extra help in the form a bird.”  
They showed photos of Falcon saving Parisians from the fires.  
“So, it turns out that Paris has a new hero called Falcon. Unfortunately, we were unable to get more photos due to the fire walling us…”  
Nadja’s words soon became irrelevant to those inside the living room as they began their own conversation.  
“Wow, another superhero and more supervillains. Things are surely escalating in Paris.” said Sabine.  
“This is great news for my LadyBlog! I wonder if he’ll do exclusive interviews…”  
“Not just for your LadyBlog, but also for Paris. There’s no way Hawkmoth will take over with these superheros now!” said Nino.  
Ben smiled at their faith in his alter-ego. “Yeah, but we also have to be careful of these villains. If Hawkmoth can make two, he might go higher.” he warned.  
“Don’t worry, Ben. I’m sure these heroes can accomplish anything!” reassured Tom.  
“I… trust them too.” replied Ben.  
Ben’s phone rang. “I’ll be right back.” He ran outside, in front of the bakery to take his call.  
“Hey, mom, what’s up?”  
“Are you okay!? I saw everything on the TV and the news! I didn’t think that Paris was so danger-”  
“Mom, I’m fine. I was saved by Ladybug and Cat Noir and that one falcon dude. Don’t worry about anything.”  
“Where at you now?”  
“I’m at the Boulangerie Patisserie.”  
“Okay, great I’ll be by to pick you up later.”  
“No, it’s okay, I’ll just walk home.”  
“Are you sure? It’ll be dark out soon and your dinner will get cold.”  
“I’ll be fine Mom, and I’m already eating with friends at the bakery. I just have dinner for lunch tomorrow.”  
“Alright get home soon. And be safe!”  
“Alright Mom. Love you.”  
“Love you.”  
He hung up and walked back into the bakery.  
“Everything alright, Ben?” asked Marinette.  
“Yeah, it was just my mom checking up on me. After all she and I haven’t seen anything like this back in the States.”  
“Yeah, don’t worry there will be plenty of surprises while you’re in Paris.” said Nino.  
“Hopefully, they’ll be good surprises.” said Ben.  
They continued eating and talking, until all the boxes were empty.  
“Ahh, that was delicious. Thank you so much for all of this, all of you.” He looked at the clock hung up on the wall. “But unfortunately, I have to get home now.”  
“Are you getting picked up now?” asked Adrien.  
“No, I’m walking home.”  
“I could give you a ride if you want, Ben.” offered Adrien. “I’m sure my bodyguard wouldn’t mind.”  
“Nah, it’s cool. Thank you though.”  
“Ben, are you sure?” asked Marinette, looking out a window. “It’s sort of dark out there. I’m sure my parents won’t mind giving you a ride.”  
“You guys have already done enough for me with everything you did today. The tour, the gifts, and making my first day of school, the best. The least I could do is not bother your parents.”  
They walked him down to the entrance of the bakery and went outside with him. He hugged all of them, and walked off waving at them.  
“I see you guys later!”  
He disappeared out of their sight.  
“Well, I guess that’s my cue to go to.” said Adrien.  
“Same here.” said Nino. “I’ll give you a ride, Alya.”  
All but Marinette called their parents and soon arrived. Their day with Ben was over. But the adventure was just beginning.

The Walk Home  
Ben walked down the empty streets of Paris with Floe right beside him.  
“That was eventful day, wasn’t it Ben?”  
“Yea, I finally made some actual friends.”  
“No, I’m talking about your powers. You did great with them! You’re the best Falcon there is!”  
“I’m the first and only Falcon there is, Floe.”  
“Did you ever figure out what akumatized meant, and what the hexagonal sheet of paper was?”  
“Yes and no. There’s a villain named Hawkmoth, who wants to miraculous for his own. If he gets all of them, there will be nothing in his way. He makes these black butterflies, called akumas that make people evil. Hence the word, ‘akumatize’. But concerning the sheet of paper, I have no clue what it means.” He pulled out the paper in front of him, looking at all the strange patterns on it. There’s has to be someone here, that knows something about this! But I…”  
“All in time, Ben. All in time.”  
He petted Floe on the head and put the sheet of paper away. He stopped and realized where he was. In Paris, under the night sky, with new friends, with a new responsibility, and a start to a new life. He leaned onto a tree and looked up at the Eiffel Tower.  
“TAKE FLIGHT!”  
Falcon flew up to the very top of the Eiffel Tower, and had a view of all of Paris.  
“I will protect you all!”  
He looked around one last time, taking in the view and flew back down.  
“Wings In. Thanks Floe.”  
“No problem. But just a heads up, next time, don’t let fun or emotions determine how you use your power. A good hero uses their…”  
“Head, not their heart. I got it, Floe.”  
Floe then heard someone talking near Ben.  
“Ben, there’s someone nearby! I have to hide!” Floe hid in Ben’s jacket again. Ben ran up to the wall, and hid by the corner.  
“IWe make a great team, Pollen.”  
Ben revealed himself from the corner. “Chloe?”  
He was met with her, alone in the dark street.  
“Who’s Pollen?”  
____________________________________________________________________________  
The Aftermath  
Hawkmoth collapsed to the floor once more, not because of more akumas, but because after the near victory and devastating defeat of Flara and Flariot.  
“Another miraculous!? I’ve never heard of this one! Falcon!”  
He grabbed his miraculous spellbook and flipped through the pages, only seeing filled page after page of the known miraculouses but only one bare page containing information about Falcon. Hawkmoth didn’t possess the knowledge to read such a book, he could only read small portions of it.  
“Defender… box… speed. What am I supposed to get from this!?” He turned back in Mr. Agreste. “Nooroo. Who is this new miraculous!?”  
“I don’t know… I’ve never seen it before… but I do remember that I was used to make a miraculous, it was just…”  
“What was the point of this miraculous!?”  
“I don’t know, it was never finished… or at least it was never supposed to be.”  
“I’ll get this miraculous too, along with all the others!”  
____________________________________________________________________________  
The Very Next Day  
For the five, it was a weekend.  
Maxe had finally been delivered.  
Adrien had multiple photoshoots to attend to.  
Alya was tending to the LadyBlog, while Nino was tending to his beats. Later on the day, they would have a date together.  
But Marinette would have no such fun or job, instead from the moment she woke up she ran to Master Fu.  
*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*  
“Please come in, Marinette.” said Master Fu. She opened the door to find him meditating with Waze right by him.  
“Something makes you ponder, Marinette. What it is?”  
“It’s about…”  
“The Falcon Miraculous, isn’t it.”  
She nodded her head, while Master Fu walked to the miraculous box and opened it. Once again he showed Marinette all the miraculouses and their place but there was no place nor indication of where the Falcon Miraculous should be.  
“Master Fu, I don’t see a spot for this new…”  
“I know, Marinette. It appears that it is time for me to spill some beans.”  
“What happened, Master Fu?”  
“Many, many years ago, when I had attained Waze, the problems with the villains out in the world were ‘dealable’ to say the least. However, as time went on, more and more villains came and their powers grew, with their thirst for the miraculous unquenched. My allies and I could see that soon, their numbers and powers would grow so enormously that it would be impossible to stop them. So we made a decision to form another miraculous, the Falcon Miraculous. It’s purpose, along with helping us fight off the villains, would the defender and the destroyer of the Miraculouses.”  
“WHAT!? Destroyer? Why would you make such a thing?”  
“We were worried that if the time comes, when we could no longer defend the people or ourselves from the villains, then we must prevent them from getting their hands on the miraculous, to prevent from achieving ultimate power. In the event that a villain attempts to steal the box, with Falcon’s speed and agility, he could get to the miraculous box in no time. But if the time I was talking about earlier does arise, he also has the power to destroy the miraculouses…”  
“But how would he know, if it was being stolen? What if there was an extremely sneaky akumatized villain?”  
“Well, we made an alarm for it. Along with the creation of the miraculous, which was a bracelet, there should be a hexagonal sheet of paper.” Fu closed the box, only showing the very top of the box. “There is a sheet of paper, when placed on top of this box, gives Falcon the location of the box at all times and alerts him if it has been moven. I have a feeling that he who wields the Falcon Miraculous also has this sheet of paper.”  
“But then why is it showing up now? It’s weird that you made this miraculous only to have it show up many years later.”  
“Actually Marinette, it was never supposed to be finished… We didn’t have the time to.”  
“But then how…”  
“I don’t know Marinette, I’d have to speak to the kwami itself to figure out such a thing.”  
Marinette opened the miraculous box one more time and looked at them.  
“Are there more than just Falcon?”  
“No… or at least there shouldn’t be.”  
Master Fu closed the box and put it back on top of the cabinet. “Anything else, Marinette?”  
“Cat Noir and I will make sure he won’t ever need to need to destroy the miraculouses.”  
Master Fu smiled. Then the someone knocked on the door, a customer waiting for a massage.  
“You should go, Marinette. I will see you again.”  
“Bye, Master Fu.”  
__________________________________________________________________________


End file.
